Bhuwan Nagarkoti continue to dominate the Surya Nepal Challenge extending his lead to massive nine strokes over Dhana Bahadur Thapa after the third round at the Royal Nepal Golf Club on Wednesday.

Nagarkoti shot one-under on Wednesday for a total card of 10-under 194. Thapa was nine strokes behind the leader at one-under 203 after shooting four-under 64 in the third round.

Deepak Magar and Rabi Khadka were tied for third at even-par 204. Magar carded three-over 71 and Khadka even-par 68. Surya Prasad Sharma shot a 70 and Ramesh Nagarkoti 67 to share the fifth place at one-over 205. Bhuwan Kumar Rokka was in seventh at 206 after carding one-over 69 on Wednesday. Rame Magar and Yelamber Singh Adhikari were tied for eighth at four-over 208, while Jayaram Shrestha was alone in 10th at 211. Nepal No 1 Shivaram Shrestha fell further back in 11 at 213 after shooting playing yet another poor round of two-over 70.

Nagarkoti shot one-under 33 on the front nine and even-par 34 on the back nine. His front nine card included birdies on the second, fourth and sixth holes against bogeys on the third and ninth. Nagarkoti made pars all the way from nine to 18th hole. Thapa carded two-under 32 on both the halves. He sank birdies on the first, seventh, 10th, 12th and 13th holes against a lone bogey on the final hole.

Rabi Khadka carded one-over 35 on the front nine and one-under 33 on the back nine. Khadka made a double bogey on the second and dropped a shot on the eighth but sank birdies on the fifth and ninth holes. On the back nine, he sank birdies on the 12th and 17the holes against a bogey on the 16th.

Deepak Magar carded two-over 36 on the front nine and one-over 71 on the back nine. Magar made a double bogey on the second and saved pars on eight others. On the back nine, the RNGC veteran dropped shots on the 11th, 14th and 18th holes against birdies on the 12th and 17th.

Tanka Bahadur Karki lead the amateur category with nine-over 213 after carding six-over 74 on Wednesday. Karki is four shots ahead of Subash Ghising, who shot a 72 for the total of 217. The third event of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2017-18 offers Rs 420,000 in total prize money with top three pro earning Rs 80,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively. Other pros to make the cut for the final two rounds will also earn their share of cash rewards.