The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Mukesh Kumar wins by a mile; Vijay Kumar survives by a whisker

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 14, 2006

Sport

Sport - Golf

Mukesh Kumar wins by a mile; Vijay Kumar survives by a whisker

Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI: Mukesh Kumar quelled a resolute Feroz Ali with his controlled putting to win with four holes to go, in a quarterfinal match in the SRF all-India matchplay golf championship at the Delhi Golf Club course here on Thursday.

Seasoned Vijay Kumar survived by a whisker against Ali Sher, while Shamim Khan and Vinod Kumar were the others who made it to the semifinals.

Timid start

Mukesh had a timid start as he made a bad chip putt to par the first hole. Feroz, however, was in a fine form reading the lines on the front nine to perfection. He made the breakthrough on the first hole itself despite missing an eagle putt. It took one more hole for Mukesh to recover as he caught up with Feroz on the third with a five-footer birdie putt to bring the match at all square.

The Amby Valley PGAI Order of Merit leader, Mukesh Kumar, showed why he is the master in the domestic golf circuit. On the par-4 fourth hole, he reached the green with his second shot and then rolled the ball downhill for a 20-foot birdie putt to go one up. He won the fifth hole to increase his lead, but Feroz shot back on the sixth with a downhill birdie putt.

The two shared the next four holes, which included fine eagles on the par-5 eighth hole. It looked like a close contest, but Mukesh made it very simple by winning four straight holes from the 11th while Feroz struggled with wayward shots.

In the bottom half of the draw, the two former Indian Open champions, Vijay Kumar and Ali Sher, played out a thriller. A fighter in Ali Sher had Vijay Kumar under pressure on the 16th hole but later gifted the 18th despite being in a strong position to force a play-off.

Vijay was one up on the 16th when he hit one of the two right bunkers from the centre of the fairway of the dog-leg hole. Ali Sher was also on the slope of the other bunker but chip putted for par. Vijay also recovered nicely for a five-foot par putt but his ball rolled along the circumference and stayed on.

A 20-foot birdie putt from the apron of the 17th green put Vijay one up again before a driver-driver combination by Ali Sher threatened to spoil his semifinal ambitions. Sadly, Ali Sher played overcautiously and three-putted while Vijay regained the lost ground and parred, as did Ali Sher.

In the quarterfinals, Digvijay Singh, Ashok Kumar and Arjun Singh became casualties. Both Ashok and Arjun lost on the 17th hole while Digvijay lost to Shamim Khan on the first play-off hole.

The results:

Quarterfinals: Mukesh Kumar bt Feroz Ali 5 and 4, Shamim Khan bt Shiv Prakash 4 and 2, Vijay Kumar bt Ali Sher 1 up, Vinod Kumar bt Vivek Bhandari 2 up.

Pre-quarterfinals: Mukesh Kumar bt A.S. Malik 2 and 1, Feroz Ali bt Harinder Gupta 1 up, Shamim Khan bt Digvijay Singh on 19th hole, Shiv Prakash bt Pappan 2 and 1, Vijay Kumar bt Sankar Das 3 and 2, Ali Sher bt Sanjay Kumar 2 and 1, Vinod Kumar bt Ashok Kumar 2 and 1, Vivek Bhandari bt Arjun Singh 2 and 1.

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