The 20-year-old Kochhar, who was one shot off the lead in tied fourth at the halfway stage, produced a steady three-under-69 on Thursday to emerge as the prime contender for the title at the Rs. 40 lakh event which is also the penultimate leg of the 2019 TATA Steel PGTI season.

Bengaluru’s Rahil Gangjee (71) and Faridabad-based Abhinav Lohan (70) were in tied second place at nine-under-207.

Kochhar (67-69-69), still looking for his first title after turning professional, began well with long birdie conversions on the second and fifth despite being in trouble with his tee shots on both holes. An error in club selection on the sixth saw him find the water and drop his first bogey of the day. He then landed it close to pick up two more birdies on the eighth and 12th. However, those two birdies were negated by bogeys on the 13th and 15th..

Nonetheless, he managed to end the round on a high with two long birdie putts on the 16th and 18th on the most windy day of the tournament.

“It was great to end my round with two birdies for the second straight day. In round two, I made birdies on the closing 17th and 18th and today it was the 16th and 18th. So that helps me carry forward the momentum into the next round."said Kochhar

“I’ve made some mistakes in all three rounds but I’ve made more birdies than the number of mistakes. So that has kept me ahead. I made a really good recovery to make bogey on the sixth after finding the water hazard. That hole could’ve been worse for me. Now the key in the final round will be to keep the mistakes out.” he added

Rahil Gangjee (68-68-71) will be playing with Kochhar for the third day in succession as he found himself a place in the final day’s leadergroup after a round that featured five birdies and four bogeys. Rahil moved up two spots from his overnight tied fourth.

The 41-year-old Gangjee, began on a promising note as he drove the green on the par-4 first hole for a birdie. After a bogey on the second he once again made headway with birdies on the fifth and sixth. But thereafter, the gusty winds had an impact on his round as he dropped three bogeys and picked up just two birdies between the seventh and 18th.

Rahil said, “It was an up and down round for me. The conditions were the toughest today. I’m glad I took my revenge on the sixth hole today with a birdie after making double-bogey on that hole over the last two days. I’m still in a good position and a solid start in round four would be crucial for me.”

Abhinav Lohan’s (70-67-70) third round 70 was punctuated by four birdies and two bogeys and it lifted him four spots from his overnight sixth position.

Lohan said, “The second half of the season has been good for me so far. I finally broke the victory barrier and secured some decent finishes. I fixed some glitches in my game during the mid-season break and that has helped improve my ball-striking in particular. It would be ideal if I could end the year with a couple of more top finishes.”

Round two joint leaders Trishul Chinnappa of Bengaluru and Sudhir Sharma of Greater Noida shot rounds of 73 to slip to tied fourth at eight-under-208 along with Lucknow’s Sanjeev Kumar (67).

Eighteen-year-old amateur Akshay Neranjan, playing only his second professional event, in seventh at seven-under-209 and M Dharma in tied eighth at six-under-210 made it four Bengalureans in the top-10.

Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu matched the tournament’s best round of 65 to close the day in 11th place at five-under-211. Delhi’s Kapil Kumar, one of the three second round joint leaders, slipped to tied 12th at four-under-212 after a round of 77 .

Defending champion Anura Rohana of Sri Lanka was also placed tied 12th. Gurugram-based Veer Ahlawat, the highest-ranked player in the field, being third in the PGTI Order of Merit, was placed tied 47th at two-over-146.

Bengaluru-based Aryan Roopa Anand, the second amateur to make the cut, was tied 26th at one-under-215.