Ice-cool Nakajima snatches lead going into final round

The 25-year-old from Japan shot a bogey-free 65 for a two-shot lead over Fleetwood at the DGC course

- Shantanu Srivastava

An error-free round on the moving day and a putting masterclass on the back nine meant Japan's Keita Nakajima knocked overnight leader Tommy Fleetwood off his perch and led the field by two shots going into the final day of $4 million DP World India Championship at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) here.

Nakajima, 25, carded a bogey-free 7-under 65 — joint best card of the day to go 17-under for the tournament — to stay in hunt for a second DP World Tour title on Indian soil after his wire-to-wire win at the Hero Indian Open in March 2024.

Nakajima’s Saturday surge was a reward for his consistency. He was second on the leaderboard on Day 1 and slipped two places on Day 2, but Day 3 saw him take charge right from the first tee which he birdied from 10 feet. More birdies arrived on holes 5, 6, and 8 out of which the last two could have been eagles but for the putts stopping just short.