Om Prakash Chouhan fired a 66 to zoom 11 spots to tied second with a card of 13-under 203 whereas rising because the highest-placed Indian on the USD 300,000 Duncan Taylor Black Bull Challenge in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Italy’s Lorenzo Scalise shot the third day’s finest rating of seven-under 65 to take a two-shot lead at 15-under 201 on the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course.

Chouhan was in a four-way tie for the second spot together with Spain’s Victor Pastor (67), England’s Ashley Chesters (68) and Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg (69).

Aman Raj (71) was the second Indian within the top-10. He was positioned tied ninth at 10-under 206.

Italy’ Lorenzo Scalise (68-68-65), on his first journey to India, has posted just one bogey in his final 54 holes. The 27-year-old from Monza, who at the moment sits in tenth place on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, was happy with each a part of his sport as he went error-free.

Scalise stated, “I hit it great off the tee and put myself into some great positions. My putting was very good, and I only left myself short sided once.

“I’ve started the season well and my aim is to be in contention every week because you have to play consistently throughout the year if you want to finish in the top 20 and get your DP World Tour card.”

Chouhan (70-67-66), a seven-time winner on the PGTI, had a quiet begin with only one birdie on the front-nine. The Mhow-based Chouhan then started to assemble steam with birdie-eagle on the tenth and eleventh making a 16-feet conversion on the latter.

Chouhan then stumbled with a double-bogey on the twelfth the place he discovered the hazard.

He then got here up with a improbable rear-guard motion by sinking long-distance birdie putts on the 14th, sixteenth, seventeenth and 18th to rise into rivalry.

The 36-year-old Chouhan stated, “After a good start, the double-bogey on the 12th was quite disappointing but fortunately I didn’t let that affect my game. I was pleased with the very strong finish.

“I’ve been working on the mental aspect of my game as errors on the course used to affect me a lot in the past. But I’m in a much better mental space now to handle such situations.

“My driving and iron shots are my strength at the moment but I know once the putts start rolling in for me I can even shoot a round of eight-under.

“Importantly, I’ve begun the year with some good results, three top-10s out of four starts, which has given me a lot of confidence.” Aman Raj (67-68-71) combined 5 birdies with 4 bogeys in his spherical of 71 to slide six spots to tied ninth.

India’s Aryan Roopa Anand (72) was tied seventeenth at eight-under 208. Among the opposite distinguished Indian names, Udayan Mane (72) was tied forty third at five-under 211 and Khalin Joshi (74) was tied 61st at one-under 215.