Calcutta: Firoz Ali, despite a one-over par 72, managed a slender two-stroke lead, thanks to a birdie on the finishing hole in the third round of the Hero Honda Western Open at the par-71 Poona Club golf course on Friday. According to a press release, the Calcuttan had a three-day total of 12-under par 201.

Vijay Kumar, despite a three-under par 68, had to share the second spot with Harinder Gupta, who played a brilliant round of six-under 65.

Leading scores (after 54 holes) (Pros): 201 Firoz Ali (63,66,72); 203 Harinder Gupta (68,70,65), Vijay Kumar (71,64,68); 204 SSP Chowrasia (66,71,67); 206 Rahul Ganapathy (71,67,68), Gurbaaz Mann (70,67,69), Arjun Singh (67,66,73); 207 Sanjay Kumar (66,69,72); Gurki Shergil (68,68,71); 208 Sankar Das (70,71,67), C Muniyappa (68,69,71); 209 Vinod Kumar (71,71,67), Vivek Bhandari (69,68,72), Ashok Kumar (72,66,71). Amateurs: 231 VT Date (80,78,73); 240 Mehul Rastogi (75,78,87).