Irina keeps her cool to clinch title

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, NOV. 9. Just when she was on the verge of conceding the lead for the first time in four days, the 18-year-old Irina Brar managed to made a timely recovery to win her third successive Northern India ladies open golf championship at the Delhi Golf Club here on Friday.

Chandigarh-based Irina, who finished with a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole, carded a three-over 75 to conclude at eight- over 296.

``Though I did not play well today, I am very happy with my third successive win,'' said Irina, who scored two birdies in the last five holes to emerge an easy victor in the end. Prior to her recovery, she had six bogeys with four coming on the trot from the seventh hole.

The runner-up slot was managed by Parnita Garewal, who was on par with Irina after the 12th hole. It was a commendable performance from Parnita till then, considering Irina had started the final day with a five-stroke lead.

But thereafter, Parnita faltered with a double bogey and three bogeys in the last six holes to eventually lose by six strokes. Parnita, who was one-under for the day after 12 holes, could only manage four-over 76 in the end.

Considering Irina's sizable lead going into the final round and the standard of play in the previous days, any possibility of a close fight not only depended on the leader slackening her grip but also on the challenge put up by the jointly second-placed Parnita Garewal and Anjali Chopra.

Though Anjali was never in contention, Parnita worked her way with two birdies, one each on the par-4 11th and the par- 3 12th holes.

From the start, Parnita sustained the pressure by salvaging pars. Parnita's perseverance enabled her to reduce the deficit from five strokes to two, as Irina slackened her grip with four bogeys till the 10th hole.

And when Parnita holed in a birdie putt from more than 10 yards, the possibility of Irina being challenged improved further.

On the next hole, par-3 12th, a fine driver left Parnita with a four-foot birdie putt, which she converted to get on par with Irina.

At this stage, Parnita was expected to do better. But a double bogey on the next hole, on which she hit her approach shot into the bushes, let Irina off the hook. Irina, who herself had a bogey on the par-4 13th, then managed a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-5 14th to gain a vital two-stroke lead.

Irina, who had missed out on the regulation seven times before the 13th hole, managed to do so on all occasions in the last five holes.

And that allowed her to pull it off even as Parnita continued to drop strokes in the closing stages.

In the junior section, Mayali Talwar (314) won with a comfortable 11-stroke margin. Pragya Mishra finished second.

Dubai's Rhea Nair won the sub-junior title with a tally of 361, which proved 15 strokes better than the effort of 12-year-old Noida Golf Club's Vaishvi Sinha.

The scores:

Irina Brar (73, 73, 75, 75) 296; Parnita Garewal (74, 73, 79, 76) 302; Anjali Chopra (75, 75, 76, 77) 303; Mayali Talwar (78, 80, 80, 76) 314; Ayesha Kapur (78, 82, 77, 78) , Vandana Aggarwal (78, 82, 77, 78) 315.

Siel junior Trophy: Mayali Talwar (78, 80, 80, 76) 314; Pragya Mishra (86, 82, 80, 77) 325; Sonavi Chopra (81, 82, 87, 84) 334.

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