Nepal No 1 Shrestha submitted a card of two-under 70 on Thursday for a total of three-under 141. [break]
Surya Prasad Sharma, Sanjay Lama and Toran Bikram Shahi are tied for the second place with four-over 148. Also tied at the second position with the score of 148 is amateur Tashi Tsering. Sharma shot even-par 36 on both front nine and back nine while Lama carded one-under 71 and Shahi shot two-over 74 to share the second position.
Shrestha took a turn at three-under 33 on Thursday as he played a bogey free first nine holes with birdies on hole 5, 7 and 9. On the back nine, he hit birdies on hole 11 and 12 to go five-under but dropped three shots on the next two holes. He shot a bogey on hole 13 and suffered a double bogey on the 14th hole.
Ramesh Nagarkoti and Rabi Khadka are tied for fifth at five-over 149. Nagarkoti shot four-over 76. Khadka, who was was at second on the first day with even-par 72, played a forgettable round and carded five-over 77 on Thursday.
Others who made the cut for the final round are Ram Thapa, Sabin Sapkota, Jay Ram Shrestha, Ramesh Adhikari, Dhana Thapa, Rajan Thapa, CB Bhandari, Umesh Nagarkoti, Ram Krishna Shrestha, Pashupati Sharma, Mani Rai, Sachin Bhattarai, Deepak Acharya and Deepak Thapa Magar.
The championship, the seventh event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2011-12 and sponsored by ISME Pvt Ltd, is the biggest local professional event of the Nepal PGA with a total prize of Rs 500,000. The winner will receive Rs 110,000 while runner-up and third place will bag Rs 72,000 and Rs 54,000 respectively.
In amateur section, Tsering carded three-over 75 on Thursday for a total of 148 that put him nine strokes ahead of Dipendra Rayamajhi, who shot eight-over 80 on the second day.
Dinesh Prajapati and Bikash Bogati, the young golfers under the Surya Nepal NGA Youth Golf Program also made the cut for the final round.
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