Ahmad Baig tightened his grip on the Asian Development Tour Rumanza Pakistan Open today, posting a third straight round in the 60s to extend his lead to five shots going into the final round.

Pakistan’s number one golfer took his time to get going after a delayed start due to the completion of round two, and with an eagle bracketed by two bogeys within seven holes, it looked like his challengers sensed an opening with his lead dropping to two shots at one point.

But a birdie on the ninth, and two more on the way home, saw him extend his lead to finish with a 69 on 15 under par, five shots ahead of Italy’s Michele Ortolani (70) with Malaysia’s Khavish Varadan (72) a further shot back.

“It was a great round today,” said Baig after posting his score. “With the course playing shorter today, the pin positions were very tough and because it was windy I just tried to put myself on the right side of the green,” he said.

Sweden’s Erik Jonasson (68) posted the low round of the day, scoring eight birdies, but a double and two bogeys set him back in a roller coaster of a round at the US$85,000 tournament at Rumanza Golf Club.

Sweden’s Erik Jonasson pictured in action at the ADT Rumanza Open Pakistan. The US$85,000 tournament is being held at the Rumanza Golf & Country Club in Pakistan from February 19-22, 2025. Picture courtesy Rumanza Pakistan Open.

“A roller coaster really describes it,” he said after signing his card. “I started out great, birdied the first, birdied the second, and then i made a double on the fourth,” he explained. “Just the story of the day. I hit so many good shots and a couple of really bad ones, so it was a lot of birdies and a couple of over par holes as well.

“It was windier but honestly not for me, just a couple of bad holes. It’s golf, it’s going to happen,” he said.

“I was just trying to keep pushing, trying to make as many birdies as possible but sometimes you get a little bit too aggressive and don’t really trust some numbers so bad stuff can happen,” he added.

Eric McIntosh (71) of Scotland shared fourth place with Jonasson with an equally up and down round, trading birdies with bogeys in his front nine, and then nullifying a brace of bogeys with an eagle on the 16th hole to finish his round at one under par.

Argentina’s Miguel Carballo (71) holdfs solo sixth place going into the final round, ahead of El Mehdi Fakori (70) of Morocco, Grant Godfrey (70) of the USA and Austria’s Niklas Regner (70).

England’s Sam Rook (70 and Luke Joy (70) share 10th place, ahead of Pakistan’s Matloob Ahmad (70) in 12th and Aadam Syed (71) of Pakistan and Spain’s Alejandro Canizares (72) in 13th position. Korea’s Minwook Gwon (73) holds solo 15th place.

The start of round three was put back due to a fog delay in round two which meant the draw was not able to be made until early morning. Fifty players made the cut, which was set at five over par.

The final round is scheduled to start at 7.42am tomorrow off two tees, with the leading group of Varadan, Ortolani and Baig teeing off at 9.10am.

Main picture: Pakistan’s Ahmad Baig pictured in action at the ADT Rumanza Open Pakistan. The US$85,000 tournament is being held at the Rumanza Golf & Country Club in Pakistan from February 19-22, 2025. Picture courtesy Rumanza Pakistan Open.