Monday, Nov 10, 2003
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Golf
By Our Special Correspondent
Arjun Atwal, who won the Hero Honda Masters golf trophy at the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi on Sunday.
As anticipated, the final round of the $300,000 Hero Honda Masters had its share of thrills with overnight leader Digvijay Singh, Jyoti Randhawa and Atwal leading at different stages. Eventually, it was Atwal's chip-in birdie from about 15 feet on the 17th hole, coupled with a nervous eight-foot putt for par on the 18th, which saw him regain the title after 2000. It did not matter that an error-filled day — due to the windy conditions or mounting pressure — produced some ordinary scores. The gallery of a couple of thousands at the Delhi Golf Club had no reason to complain as long as the champion was an Indian. Once Digvijay faded away with successive double-bogeys on the back nine, Randhawa was the only one looking good to catch up with Atwal. After Atwal had finished the round with a total of seven-under 281, Randhawa came within a shot of forcing a play-off. However, the twice champion's birdie-putt from about 10 feet lipped the cup and stayed out. It also meant that Atwal was out of reach of the rest. Randhawa settled for a shared second spot with two others, at 280. The title, worth $48,450 and a crystal trophy, not only reinforced Atwal's place at the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit but also made him the first millionaire on the Tour. Atwal's sixth title on the Tour since 1995 took his earnings to $1,016,352. "Honestly, the earnings never crossed my mind. For any golfer, victory is always important,'' was how the champion underplayed the crossing of the million-dollar mark. He admitted to hitting the ball badly today but said he was encouraged by the way he putted. "Normally, on the final day of the events that I've won, I've hit well but putted badly,'' said Atwal, pointing to his putts on the 10th and 11th holes, where he escaped with bogeys, and the 12-foot par-putt on the 12th. If Atwal was not required to produce any spectacular stuff on way to victory, it was because the other contenders struggled even more. No wonder, Atwal could afford the luxury of three-successive bogeys, beginning from the ninth, and still win. Randhawa, leader after eight holes by moving from his overnight seven-under to 10-under, got it terribly wrong after taking the turn with a 33 and dropped four strokes, including a double-bogey on the 13th. For Randhawa's brother-in-law Digvijay, too, the 13th as well as the 14th proved equally unlucky. "It was my indecisiveness that cost me today,'' said Digvijay, pointing to inappropriate club-selection on a few occasions and his reading of the wind. Digvijay, jointly in lead with Randhawa after nine holes by maintaining his overnight score of nine-under, covered the crucial home stretch with a poor 42. It all started on the par-four 13th hole where Digvijay's 6-iron approach shot sped past the green to the right. He chipped out and then three-putted. On the par-five 14th, Digvijay's tee-shot landed on the rough. After taking a penalty `drop', he shot into the bunker. He chipped out and two-putted. By dropping four strokes over two holes, Digvijay found himself out of contention. Even as the Indians hogged all the attention, Pablo del Olmo played his "best round of the year'' for a 68. The joint second spot helped the Mexican retain his Asian Tour card for the next season. Joining Olmo and Randhawa was American Gary Rusnak. He followed his third-round 65 with a 71 for his best finish on the Asian Tour. His previous best was a tied third in the 1999 edition of the event here as well as the Ericsson Masters 2001. As far as the Hero Honda Masters was concerned, barring 1997, the tradition of an Indian champion continues. The scores with prizemoney (Indians unless stated): Arjun Atwal (69, 71, 70, 71) 281 ($48,450); Pablo del Olmo (Mex) (68, 74, 72, 68), Jyoti Randhawa (71, 70, 68, 73) and Gary Rusnak (U.S.) (73, 71, 65, 71) 282 ($22,330 each); Kim Felton (Aus) (77, 68, 69, 69), Rafiq Ali (71, 70, 71, 71) and Unho Park (Aus) (72, 70, 69 72) 283 ($10,500 each); Simon Yates (Sco) (73, 69, 73, 69) and Chiranjeev Milkha Singh (66, 73, 73, 73) ($7,095 each) 284; Mukesh Kumar (73, 69, 72, 71), Rafael Ponce (Eco) (74, 69, 67, 75) and Digvijay Singh (71, 68, 68, 78) 285 ($5,552 each); Uttam Singh Mundy (72, 71, 73, 70), Scott Barr (Aus) (72, 72, 70, 72), Sung Mao-Chang (Tpe) (75, 70, 68, 73), Ashok Kumar (70, 74, 68, 74) and Anthony Kang (U.S.) (70, 70, 71, 75) 286 ($4,420); Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) (72, 70, 73, 72), Gaurav Ghei (72, 72, 70, 73), Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) (73, 72, 69, 73) and Vijay Kumar (68, 71, 73, 75) 287 ($3,675).
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