Joshua Berry birdied three of his closing five holes to take a one stroke lead into the final day of the Kolkata Challenge at Royal Calcutta Golf Club.
The Englishman, who fired a course record round of 62 on day two, signed for a two under par 70 on moving day to reach 12 under par for the week and lead by one from Austrian Lukas Nemecz.
The 19-year-old will go in search of a maiden HotelPlanner Tour title tomorrow and is excited by the prospect of teeing it up in the final group.
“It would mean a lot to do it tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll just be trying to play one shot at a time, and we’ll see where that puts me.
“Any chance you get to win, all you can do it try to play your best and see what happens.
“Around here, there are chances, but there’s also some really tough holes as well, so I’ll be trying to keep it in play and hole some putts.”
Berry started the day in a share of the lead with Om Prakash Chouhan from India, but slipped two shots off the pace with dropped shots at the second and third. In testing conditions, where temperatures in Tollygunge reached 40 degrees, Berry made his first gain of the day on the ninth to close the gap at the top.
The Englishman then made back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th, before adding another at the par four 17th to jump back into the lead.
Berry, who secured DP World Tour playing status at Qualifying School in 2023 as an amateur and then did so again as a professional in 2024, says patience was crucial on a challenging day on the parkland layout.
“It was a bit of grind,” he added. “It was brutal out there at times but I’m proud of how I came back.
“I think the front nine is a little trickier than the back nine, where you get a few more chances, but on the front nine, you’ve got to just stick in there. There are some meaty par fours so you’ve got to stay patient.
“Because of the heat, the ball is going absolutely miles and the greens are firm. If you miss a fairway, it could go anywhere so you’ve got to keep it in play.
“It was definitely trickier playing in the afternoon today. We’re teeing off earlier tomorrow, so hopefully I can take advantage of that.”
Austrian Maximilian Steinlechner and Norwegian Andreas Halvorsen are two shots off the lead in a share of third on ten under par, with Chouhan and Englishman George Bloor one shot further back in fifth.
Tomas Gouveia from Portugal, Spaniard Albert Boneta and Australian Hayden Hopewell are seventh on eight under par.
The final round of the Kolkata Challenge gets under way tomorrow at 7:00am local time, with Berry teeing off alongside Nemecz and Steinlechner at 9:01am.
