The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Ashok triumphs

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Saturday, May 06, 2006

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Sport - Golf

Ashok triumphs

Sports Reporter

GURGAON: Ashok Kumar survived erratic shots and scorching conditions to win his second title of the Aamby Valley PGAI Tour 2005-06 golf season. Thanks to his commanding lead built over three rounds, he was able to absorb two double bogeys, four bogeys and bad temper to win the Rs. 15 lakh TSM-Golden Greens Open at the Golden Greens Resort here on Friday.

Ashok opened the day at 13-under, but soon lost his way. He double-bogeyed the par-4 second hole after sinking into the right bunker. He duffed his bunker shot and then missed a two feet putt. He dropped shots on the third and fifth holes to make a horrible start for the day.

Another double-bogey on the home stretch, on the par-3 12th, punctured his composure as he threw his clubs in disgust, but was lucky that no referee noticed his misconduct. He finally ended his day four-over 75 for an aggregate of nine-under 275, four strokes better than Arjun Singh.

"I played horribly today, but the end result was justified as I had played excellent golf all week," said Ashok. "I wasn't too worried when I dropped three shots in my first three holes, but later it became a little difficult. However, I'm happy with this win," he added.

Arjun finishes second

Playing in the second group, Arjun played percentage golf for an under-par round of 70 to leapfrog second-placed Gurbaaz Mann. Arjun tallied 279 to be the sole runner-up.

Ashok collected the winner's cheque of Rs. 237,300 while Arjun Singh settled for Rs. 163,050.

The fact that only six of the 62 players managed under-par rounds on the fourth day was enough indication of the tough conditions.

The scores: Ashok Kumar (66, 67, 67, 75) 275, Arjun Singh (67, 72, 70, 70) 279, Gurbaaz Mann (71, 71, 65, 73) 280, C. Muniyappa (67, 71, 71, 73) 282, Vijay Kumar (71, 69, 74, 69), S. Madaiah (67, 73, 72, 71), A.S. Lehal (69, 74, 68, 72) and Ali Sher (69, 72, 70, 72) 283, Shamim Khan (72, 71, 70, 71) and Vivek Bhandari (70, 72, 68, 74) 284, Rahul Ganapathy (68, 74, 74, 69) 285, Mukesh Kumar (72, 67, 72, 75) 286, Dinesh Kumar (71, 70, 68, 78) 287.

Amateurs: Shaurya Singh (67, 74, 70, 76) 287, Manav Jaini (72, 72, 72, 82) 298, Aditya Singh (77, 74, 73, 75) 299, Tarun Goghale (70, 81, 73, 77) 301.

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