WORTHY WINNER: Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant's steady performance fetched him the Indian Open golf title. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena

NEW DELHI: The sentimental favourite of the Delhi Golf Club course, birthday boy Gaurav Ghei showed plenty of pluck but lacked the necessary luck to stop Thaworn Wiratchant from winning the $300,000 Hero Honda Indian Open golf tournament on Sunday.

After Ghei missed three successive birdie-putts, one of them from under three feet on the 14th hole, and with it a possible chance to bring Wiratchant under pressure, the Thai went on to win by a two-stroke margin at 16-under 272. The triumph, worth $47,250 took Wiratchant's earning from this season's Asian Tour to $448,225 and kept him as the leader.

Ghei, the only one to threaten Wiratchant on the final day, collected the runner-up share of $32,400 to jump from the 75th to the 43rd spot and, more importantly, retained his card for the next season on the Tour.

Interestingly, the pressure took its toll on the leader group comprising Wiratchant, teammate Prom Meesawat and South Africa's Hendrik Buhrmann as they all brought cards of 70, their highest this week.

Final day charge

In contrast was Ghei's now-familiar last day charge with a 66 after starting at tied eighth at 8-under as compared to Wiratchant's 14-under.

Meesawat and Buhrmann shared the third spot and took $16,425 each, Australia's Terry Pilkadaris, the other birthday-boy of the day, finished fifth with a 71 for a cheque of $11,640.

Ghei's card could have looked much better had he not missed those three regulation birdies on the back nine that ended with a thrilling chipped-in birdie from about 22 yards on the 18th.

The shot reminded those present of that historic 35-yard chip-in `eagle' from Ghei that saw him win the $500,000 Gadgil Western Masters on the same hole.

It was interesting to note that Wiratchant made his debut in India with that event but failed to make the cut.

"I knew that Ghei was getting closer and closer so I concentrated more on keeping my tee-shots on the fairway," revealed Wiratchant when asked whether he did something different when Ghei was threatening to take it away from him.

"Overall, I guess I was lucky today and made lesser mistakes than others," said Wiratchant, who had two birdies on the bogey-free back nine sealed the title.

Playing two groups ahead of the leader group, Ghei picked up shots on the third, sixth, seventh and eighth holes to take the turn at 12-under.

When Ghei birdied the 11th from about eight feet and Wirantchant missed his par-putt from six feet on the ninth hole, the gap between the Indian and the Thai was down to just one stroke.

Heart-breaking stretch

Then came the heart-breaking stretch for Ghei. He missed birdie-putts from under three feet on the 14th, about eight feet on the 15th and roughly 15 feet on the 16th where his putt stopped on the lip of the cup.

He two-putted the 17th and then came up with that memorable chip-in birdie from the fringe of the green, just above the bunker on the 18th hole.

Indian Tour leader Mukesh Kumar, fifth last year, shared the sixth spot with Jyoti Randhawa after a last round-68 that included a double-bogey on the ninth hole.

Though Randhawa faltered on the home stretch to finish at 73, Ashok Kumar shot a 68 to share the eighth spot with Shiv Kapur, who made up splendidly for a fourth-hole double-bogey to card a 69.

Atwal's bogey-free 70, with birdies on the first and last holes, saw him share the 11th spot with Shamim Khan and Jaiveer Virk, after the latter slipped from 12-under, following six holes, to seven-under at close.

Final scores (Indians unless stated): Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) (68, 66, 68, 70) 272; Gaurav Ghei (67, 72, 69, 66) 274; Hendrik Buhrmann (RSA) (66, 70, 69, 70), Prom Meesawat (Tha) (69, 67, 69, 70) 275; Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) (67, 70, 70, 71) 278; Mukesh Kumar (71, 69, 71, 68), Jyoti Randhawa (69, 70, 67, 73) 279; Ashok Kumar (69, 71, 72, 68), Rick Gibson (73, 55, 73, 69), Shiv Kapur (70, 69, 72, 69) 280; Arjun Atwal (70, 68, 73, 70), Shamim Khan (71, 68, 71, 71), Scott Taylor (US) (71, 67, 72, 71) and Jaiveer Virk (68, 71, 68, 74) 281.

Other Indians (sub-par tallies only): Digvijay Singh (66, 70, 72, 74), Harmeet Kahlon (71, 64, 73, 74) 282; C. Muniayappa (70, 69, 75, 70), S.S.P. Chowrasia (75, 69, 69, 71), Yusuf Ali (72, 67, 70, 75) 284; A.S. Lehal (73, 70, 69, 73), Rahil Gangjee (72, 71, 68, 74) 285; Rahul Ganapathy (67, 75, 72, 72) 286; Shankar Das (72, 72, 72, 71) 287.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail