Sport - Golf

Jeev in joint third spot

THE BELFRY: Jeev Milkha Singh kept himself in contention at the British Masters with yet another solid show, carding a three-under 69 in the weather-interrupted penultimate round here.

The seasoned Indian pro, who completed his final two holes on Sunday after being left stranded at the 16th due to darkness, has a total of seven-under 209 and shares the third spot with Spaniard Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (68).

Jeev is just three strokes off the pace of leaders New Zealand’s Michael Campbell (65) and English Ryder Cup star Lee Westwood (68).

In a roller-coaster front nine, Jeev hit a birdie on the third, stumbled to a bogey on the fourth but made amends with a birdie on the fifth.

A bogey-birdie to his first nine holes meant that Jeev started his backward journey one-under.

The other nine turned out to be a flawless affair and Jeev picked up birdies on the 14th and 17th to round off another steady show.

In contrast, it was a horrendous day for the other Indian in the fray, Shiv Kapur, who returned a six-over 78 to slide to the tied 56th spot with a total of five-over 221.

The 10th tee starter, managed just two birdies against a similar number of double bogeys and four bogeys.

At Osaka, Arjun Atwal turned in his worst card of the week, a three-over 73 in the final round, to sign off tied 36th at the Asian and Japan Tour co-sanctioned Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open here on Sunday.

The Orlando-based Indian golfer ended his campaign with a total of two-under 278 at the Ibaraki Country Club.

Local favourite Hideto Tanihara (66) clinched the title by one stroke finishing with a total of 16-under 264.

Tanihara battled hard to hold off his close friend and Azuma Yano, who shot a 67, in the $1.85 million event. — Agencies

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu