Mukesh Kumar triumphs

SRINAGAR, OCT. 7. Mukesh Kumar saved some amazing pars to win the Rs. 15 lakh Sher-e-Kashmir Open golf tournament at the Royal Springs Golf Club course here on Sunday.

Outplaying the opposition with ease, the Mhow-based Mukesh shot a four-under-par 68 to aggregate 13-under 275 for the tournament. That gave him a huge seven-stroke victory over Gaurav Ghei, who took the second place following a 71 on Sunday.

Jaiveer Virk of Delhi completed the best finish of his career as he finished tied for the third position along with Jyoti Randhawa at 283.

Mukesh, nine-under overnight, began with a bang when he birdied the first hole and opened up a five-stroke lead over the second- placed Randhawa with his second birdie on the seventh.

A 15-footer putt handed him his third birdie of the day on the ninth and the fate of the tournament was sealed when Randhawa double bogied the 10th to give the eventual champion an almost insurmountable lead of seven strokes.

Mukesh Kumar became the first player to win back-to- back titles on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour 2001-02. Also, with the victory in the first major of the Tour, Mukesh pocketed Rs. 2.43 lakh. Ghei took home a cheque of Rs. 1.68 while Virk and Randhawa earned Rs. 85,000 each.

While Mukesh remained way ahead of the competition, his key rival on the domestic tour, Vijay Kumar, earned some consolation for himself.

Vijay Kumar established a new course record of six-under-66 despite a double bogey from the bunker on the picturesque fifth hole. That helped him finish tied for the sixth place at 285 along with Sanjay Kumar.

The scores:

Mukesh Kumar (70, 68, 69, 68) 275; Gaurav Ghei (68, 70, 73, 71) 282; Jaiveer Virk (68, 72, 72, 71), Jyoti Randhawa (70, 70, 69, 74) 283; Feroz Ali (71, 71, 71, 71) 284; Vijay Kumar (70, 73, 76, 66), Sanjay Kumar (73, 71, 69, 72) 285; Rahul Ganapathy (72, 70, 69, 75) 286; Dinesh Kumar (73, 73, 69, 74) 289; Ali Sher (74, 73, 72, 71), Rohtas Singh (70, 73, 73, 74) 290; Digvijay Singh (73, 68, 76, 74), Monish Bindra (72, 69, 73, 77) 291; Rafiq Ali (71, 70, 79, 72), Vinod Kumar (72, 71, 76, 73) 292.

Amateurs: Ashfaq Ahmed (74, 81, 80, 81) 316; Suhail Khanday (82, 80, 84,79) 325.

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