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Early exit for Jeev, Mukesh

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI APRIL 8. Top Indian pro Jeev Milkha Singh struggled with his body balance due to ear infection while Mukesh Kumar extended his streak of bad putting as the two seeds made first round exit in the SRF all-India Matchplay golf championship at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) course here on Tuesday.

"You can't focus too well with ear infection. The body balance gets a little off,'' Jeev said after losing to Prem on the 18th hole in the Rs. 10 lakh tournament. Jeev, who played two tournaments on the Japanese PGA Tour, caught the infection there.

"He (Prem) made something like five birdies while I was too friendly with the trees and bunkers,'' said Jeev who expects to be fully fit for the coming Nationwide Tour in the U.S.

After levelling the scores on the eighth hole, Jeev lost the ninth for a one-hole deficit at the clubhouse. Both halved the 10th and 11th holes, and Jeev gave himself a good chance when he parred the par-3 12th while Prem bogeyed.

"Everybody thought that I was going to lose even before the first tee shot was taken,'' the DGC's caddy-turned-pro said. "There was no pressure on me so I had nothing to lose,'' Prem said.

The chips went down for Jeev when he missed a 15-foot putt on the 13th while Prem made a fantastic 25-foot birdie putt to go one up. The 14th hole was a disaster for Jeev when he found right bunker on the first shot. In trying to go high up, Jeev got a little thin and hit the edge of the bunker and fell just beyond 200-yard mark.

Eventually both halved the hole and it gave some respite to Jeev. The par-three 15th was shared and then there was tragedy for Jeev on the next hole. First he strayed into the right bushes and after he took a safety shot Jeev was still out of the fairway. His third shot hit a grand-old spread-out neem tree and dropped just 20 feet ahead of him. He gave up and was two down with as many holes remaining.

Jeev won the 17th with a birdie, but the new-look elongated par-five 18th sealed his fate. Playing at the DGC after four years, Jeev was left to wonder what hit him even though he had a perfect second shot falling at the edge of the green. Prem made a fantastic chip on his third shot and both halved the holes, and that was the end of Jeev's chapter.

Mukesh was the second upset of the day. He lost to Hemchand on the first play-off hole. Mukesh, who missed the cut in the last month's Indian Open, was looking to get even with the course. He won the second, third, eighth, ninth and 12th holes while Hem Chand had first, fourth, seventh, 13th and 16th.

Hem Chand's decision to make driver and three-wood on the 19th hole paid off. Mukesh used three-wood three-wood and strayed into the bushes.

Meanwhile, top seed Arjun Atwal, defending champion Shiv Prakash, eighth seed Arjun Singh, Gaurav Ghei, Uttam Singh Mundy and Digvijay Singh scored worthy victories.

The results: Arjun Atwal bt Romit Bose 6 and 5; Basad Ali bt Amit Dube 7 and 5; Shiv Prakash bt Dinesh Kumar 1 up; Amritinder Singh bt Raju Ali 4 and 3; Arjun Singh bt Suleiman Ali 4 and 3; Jumman bt Ranjit Singh 1 up; Gaurav Ghei bt K. P. S. Sekhon 4 and 3; Jaiveer Virk bt D. S. Raghuvanshi 3 and 2; Prem bt Jeev Milkha Singh 1 up; S. Madaiah bt Sheeraz Kalra 3 and 2; Manohar Dike bt Shamim Khan 1 up; Rahil Gangjee bt Gast Ram 5 and 4; Amandeep Johl bt Tarun Sardesai 6 and 4; Mohammed Islam bt Vishal Singh 3 and 2; Uttam Singh Mundy bt Gursimran Sethi 4 and 3; Pappan bt Nabin Mondal 3 and 1; Hem Chand bt Mukesh Kumar 19th hole; Devendra Patel bt Ajay Gupta 2 up; Rafiq Ali bt Rajiv Kumar 5 up after nine holes, conceded; Vivek Bhandari bt Asgar Ali 19th hole; S. S. P. Chowrasia bt Mohammed Maqbool 6 and 4; Ali Sher bt Zai Kipgen 5 and 4; Ashok Kumar bt R. Murthy 2 and 1; Roop Singh bt R. Ganapathy 4 and 3; Digvijay Singh bt K. S. Sibia 6 and 5; Vinod Kumar bt Naman Dawar 19th hole; Yusuf Ali bt Rajesh Rawat 2 and 1; Rohtas Singh bt Chini Ali 1 up; Vijay Kumar bt Akbar Ali 4 and 3; Bhoop Singh bt Monish Bindra 1 up; Feroz Ali bt Balbir Verma 2 and 1; Sanjay Kumar bt Binod Pandey 1 up.

Wednesday's important match-ups: Atwal v Basad; Shiv Prakash v Amritinder; Ghei v Virk; Mundy v Pappan; Chowrasia v Ali Sher.

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