The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Jeev, Kapur tie for 26th

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 24, 2006

Sport

Sport - Golf

Jeev, Kapur tie for 26th

Shanghai: Jeev Milkha Singh and Shiv Kapur produced their best golf of the week to finish tied 26th in the $1.8 million BMW Asian Open at the Tomson Pudong Shanghai Golf Club here on Sunday.

But the day belonged to Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano who won a dramatic finish to take his second title and a cheque of $3,00,000 to make his fortnight in China worth half a million.

The Spanish golfer, the European Rookie of the Year in 2005, was second behind Jeev last week in the Volvo China Open. Jeev and Kapur took $16,290 each this week.

Penalty on himself

While Kapur had five birdies and just one bogey in his four-under 68, Jeev had no bogeys, but he did call a penalty on himself for touching the water on his backswing while hitting out of the hazard on the ninth.

He took five strokes, but put down a seven including a two-shot penalty, but for which he would have been under par for the week and inside top-20.

"But that's not the way I would like,'' said Jeev, who last week won his first title in seven years at the Volvo China Open in Beijing. ``No one noticed, but I knew I had touched the water on my backswing and I cannot keep quiet about that, so I took a seven on that.''

Scintillating

While Jeev had his dramatic moments in the morning, Fernandez-Castano produced some scintillating golf in the closing stages and then won a play-off ahead of Henrik Stenson, who had led the field for more than three and a half days only to lose in the end.

Fernandez-Castano and Stenson tied at seven-under after 72 holes and then the Spaniard birdied the play-off hole to take the title.

In the play-off hole on the 18th, both Fernandez-Castano and Stenson went into the trees, just as the former had in regulation play.

The Spaniard's second shot carried past the water and onto the right side of the green. He revealed that he had discussed the shot with fellow Spaniards, Jose Manuel La Ra and Ignacio Garrido on Saturday night.

Sensational chip

Stenson chipped onto the fairway and his third bounced off the green and went over. Fernandez-Castano's third was a sensational chip almost like 16th where he holed it for a birdie and a two-shot swing as Stenson bogeyed — landing nine inches from the Cup.

Stenson's birdie putt kissed the rim and carried on and he got par. Fernandez-Castano tapped in for a birdie and the win.

Jeev also seemed set for a good day with a string of pars and one birdie in his first eight holes. Then came the drama on the ninth.

``(On the ninth) I had a 3-iron to the green and I pulled it and hit into the water. I went into the water and then hit a great shot out of there to be just short of the bunker.

``From there I chipped it to about 10 feet and holed it for par. But while I was hitting the shot out of the water, on my backswing I touched the water but I never stopped in the course of play," Jeev said. "That is a two-shot penalty and I made a seven and at least I owned up and I am happy about it. No one saw it, but I told my playing partner David (Bransdon) and then spoke to the referee,'' he added. — PTI

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