The Hindu : Sport : Randhawa reigns

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 13, 2004

Sport

Sport

Randhawa reigns

NEW DELHI, DEC. 12. Jyoti Randhawa won one of the most memorable showdowns in recent times when he beat Australian Terry Pilkadaris in a play-off to lift the $550,000 Volvo Masters of Asia title in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

Randhawa slammed a 15-foot birdie putt in the second hole of a sudden-death shootout at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club to end the Asian Tour season on a glorious note.

The Indian's victory, worth $99,000, was his first success this year and prevented Pilkadaris from a third title in four months.

The Aussie hauled himself into contention with an impressive seven-under-par 65 in the final round but Randhawa forced a play-off by holing an eight-foot birdie at the par five 18th in regulation en route to a 67, according to information received here.

Overnight co-leaders Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand and Wang Ter-chang of Chinese Taipei shared third place after an identical 72.

Gangjee, Jeev ninth

Among the other Indians in the fray, Rahil Gangjee and Jeev Milkha Singh finished ninth with a total of 282. Harmeet Kahlon came 30th while Amandeep Johl and Gaurav Ghei finished 39th and 41st respectively.

In the play-off, Randhawa and Pilkadaris birdied the first extra hole, played on the 18th. Pilkadaris looked to have wrapped it up by setting up a seven-foot birdie chance while Randhawa sent his chip well past the flag.

But in a stunning turnaround, the Indian star rolled home his putt and with the pressure on, Pilkadaris agonisingly missed his attempt, bringing an end to the gripping contest.

"It was a great finish," said Randhawa, whose triumph in the Volvo Masters of Asia earned him an invitation into next year's WGC-NEC Invitational.

"This was one of the most exciting rounds of golf I've played since my Indian Open win in 2000 which also had a tight leader-board. It was nerve-wracking but I handled myself well and I was very focussed. Dropping shots yesterday put me in a good position as I didn't have anything to lose".

"I don't know how I did it. I knew I needed to birdie the last hole in regulation but jumped on my tee shot and pulled into the trees. I managed to find a gap in between the trees and hit a fabulous nine iron to the flag to nine feet".

"It's amazing. Then I had two great drives in the play-off and made two great putts," added Randhawa, who had a four-day total of 14-under-par 274.

Randhawa said the win was timely as he started doubting his game following a winless year. "I had started to doubt myself after making a few swing changes. I've not won for nearly two years but my coach Kel Llewellyn told me to be patient. It's a great thing to win as my confidence will just go up.

"It's a nice Christmas present. I'll put in a thousand dollars to make it $100,000 in total. Anytime you win, it is significant. Terry played great, I wished him well and applauded some of his shots as he played some good golf," said the 32-year-old Indian, whose win was his fifth career title in Asia.

Thongchai Jaidee sealed the Order of Merit title comfortably and he won $381,929 from nine tournaments, which is a new record for money won in a single season. Randhawa finished second with $351,709 while Simon Yates of Scotland was third on the ranking with $310,988.

The final placings (top five scores): 274: Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 63-70-74-67 and Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 70-70-69-65 (Randhawa wins in second hole of sudden-death playoff); 276: Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 68-69-67-72 and Wang Ter-chang (Tpe) 69-66-69-72; 278: Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70-72-68-68; 279: Edward Loar (U.S.) 70-68-71-70; 281: Marcus Both (Aus) 70-68-72-71 & Ted Oh (Kor) 70-71-67-73. — PTI

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