Eugenio Chacarra is in prime position to successfully defend his Hero Indian Open title as he takes a four-shot lead into the final round at DLF Golf & Country Club.
Related: Eugenio Chacarra edges ahead in title defence
The Spaniard, who won the 2025 event, shot 70 in round three to reach 10 under.
That stretched his lead over a tightly bunched chasing pack led by MJ Daffue and Alex Fitzpatrick on six under, with Freddy Schott and David Law a further shot back.
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Chacarra’s move came as he approached the turn on day three. A excellent birdie putt at the fifth proved a false start as he gave the shot back at the next, but a well-judged putt at the seventh secured the first of three successive gains as he went out in 33.
He bogeyed the 13th, only for playing partner Casey Jarvis, his nearest challenger at the time, to suffer the same fate and leave him four clear.
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Fitzpatrick emerged from the group at six under with one of only two birdies made on Saturday at the difficult 14th, where Jarvis dropped two shots after finding a problematic lie in the rough behind the green and Chacarra was frustrated to make a second successive bogey.
The Spaniard celebrated his par on the next with a fist-pump and learned from Jarvis’ missed birdie putt on the 16th to perfectly roll in his own and stretch his lead back to four.
Fitzpatrick’s par putt at the 17th just stayed up and Law was unable to salvage his at the treacherous pin position on the 18th, but Daffue’s impressive birdie at the 17th left him within four.
Chacarra parred the last, three-putting from well over 100 feet as his approach ran just off the back of the green, with Daffue recording a similar par from the left-hand fringe.
First-round leader Schott finished birdie-birdie to get back to five under alongside Law. Andy Sullivan and Ewen Ferguson each shot 69 to reach four under, where Jarvis also finished after a bogey at the last.
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Euan Walker was three under and the top ten was completed at two under by Ugo Coussaud, Calum Hill and Jack Senior, whose 67 was the round of the day and vaulted him 40 places up the leaderboard.
Player Quotes
Eugenio Chacarra: It was a great today. I mean we know how this course gets over the weekends and it requires a lot of patience. I missed a couple of short ones on one and on three but I maintained my patience. At four I hit a great tee shot and straight into the divot. It was tough. I think I played really well, I handled myself very well.
Everyone’s going to make bogeys, everyone is going to have some hard bounces or bad kicks. I hit a great shot on the last right at it, and I had almost an impossible two-putt, so this is what the course is about. I need to hit exactly perfect and keep hitting the correct landing zone, if not, you’re kind of going have a hard shot. I’m proud of the way I fight it. There’s still a lot of golf to play and around this course anything can happen.
Every time I tee off I want to win and I had a good moving day. On this course four shots seems like nothing, so I just need to keep going on hopefully and play a good round of golf and see what happens.
Alex Fitzpatrick: This golf course is very challenging. I’m sure you probably heard it from a lot of people and the social media that the course is a grind. I really feel like I just hit a couple of bad shots and shot level par. I was happy with the way I fought but I’m ready for bed already.
I hit a great nine-wood in on the last. The thing came down with snow on it so I was hoping it might stop soft but it took a big bounce and I got down there where we spent like five or ten minutes watching the group in front. I saw someone in front of me chip from the same place I was and it didn’t look very fun. I was hoping just to give myself a look inside of 15 feet and I did. I hit a really nice chip and then luckily holed the putt.
I’m going to just keep grinding away. It’s really hard, there’s not much more to say about it but I’ve put myself in a good position ahead of tomorrow. Luckily, I was in the mix not too long ago so hopefully I gained some experience from that and I’m just excited for the challenge.
