The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Arjun's blunder gives Harinder place in last eight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 29, 2005

Sport

Sport - Golf

Arjun's blunder gives Harinder place in last eight

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Arjun Singh lost his way on the threshold of victory and allowed Harinder Gupta to enter the quarterfinals of the all-India SRF matchplay golf championship at the Delhi Golf Club course on Thursday.

Harinder's 1-up victory on the 19th hole came after Arjun Singh, seeded eight, threw away a one-hole advantage he held after the 15th.

Arjun, who finished third in 2002, had done well to bridge a two-hole deficit suffered in the front nine by winning the 11th and 14th holes. He took the lead on the 15th before both players halved the next two holes. Arjun now needed to match Harinder's score on the 18th to win but landed his second shot in the bushes and eventually faced a playoff hole.

Unbelievably, Arjun committed the same mistake on the first playoff hole by driving his approach shot into the bushes on the left and did not recover.

Mukesh did not have to work too hard to beat Randhir Ghotra 2 and 1 after taking the lead following an opening-hole birdie. Though the players were level after six holes, Randhir's bogey and Mukesh's birdie on the following two holes gave the top seed the cushion he needed to stay out of danger. Mukesh enlarged his lead by saving a shot on the 11th hole but Randhir hit right back on the next. After the two birdied the 14th hole, the next three holes were halved and gave Mukesh a comfortable victory.

Wednesday's hero Basad Ali failed to reproduce the magic against Sanjay Kumar and lost 3 and 2 in a one-sided encounter.

The results (prefix denotes seeding):

Pre-quarterfinals: 1-Mukesh Kumar bt Randhir Ghotra 2 and 1; 9-Harinder Gupta bt 8-Arjun Singh 19th hole; 13-Sanjay Kumar bt Basad Ali 3 and 2; Gast Ram bt 12-Yusuf Ali 1 up; Uttam Singh Mundy bt Mohammad Salim 1 up; S. S. P. Chaurasia bt Shamim Khan 19th hole; Nabin Mondal bt Vishal Singh 20th hole; Rafick Ali bt Ajay Gupta 1 up.

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