The Hindu : Sport : Buhrmann realises a dream

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 15, 2006

Sport

Sport

Buhrmann realises a dream

D. Ravi Shankar

Ashok Kumar falters when it matters

AAMBY VALLEY (LONAVALA): Hendrik Buhrmann will have two shots from the final round etched in his memory for life. Those two shots contributed immensely to the South African realising a dream of 11 years, finally winning a title on the Asian Tour.

Buhrmann's four round score of 11-under 277 earned him an exemption on the Asian Tour for the next two years, a spot in the $5 million Shanghai HSBC Champions tournament, a cheque for $63,400 and the Aamby Valley trophy for the year 2006.

When the final round began on Sunday, speculation was rife as to who would win. Ashok Kumar was clearly the crowd favourite; Hendrik Buhrmann and Simon Hurd were the alien challengers. The Indian began badly with a double bogey on the second hole.

Hurd started splendidly with birdies on the first and third and the equation changed swiftly.

Temperament

Buhrmann kept his challenge going with a birdie on the third but it was on the seventh hole that he showed his superb golfing temperament.

His second shot on the 554-yard hole veered out badly and the ball went out of bounds. Buhrmann played a provisional ball and as he said later played the shot that turned the game around.

Buhrmann went on to achieve `a world class par,' and helped him retain his composure for the rest of the tournament. From lost ball to a par on the seventh was what Buhrmann showed was possible.

The leaderboard final round on the front nine was producing a neck and neck run for the title. Ashok, after a bad start, came back to lead again jointly with Hurd with Buhrmann one stroke adrift after the first nine holes.

It was on the back nine that Ashok's form deserted him. Buhrmann's eagle on the 12th from 25 feet pepped up his confidence but dealt a body blow to Ashok's.

On the 17th hole, Buhrmann again produced a magical shot that saved him.

Rattled

Rattled by a lady spectator's movement that distracted his tee shot, Buhrmann was perched hopelessly at the edge of the ravine with nothing to see ahead. Playing a blind shot, Buhrmann recovered to get into the rough and almost chip in for a birdie. The par that he scored on the 17th took him to within a hole of the title, especially as his nearest rival Hurd ended up with a double bogey on the penultimate hole.

Hurd's nerve cracked in the end and the two-stroke lead that he allowed Buhrmann to gain on the 17th shut out all his chances. His runner-up spot earned him a cheque of $43,000. Added to that was another loss of Rs. 100 which he had to shell out for losing a bet when Liverpool beat West Ham in the FA Cup final.

Disqualified

Meanwhile, three players were disqualified for falsifying their scores to enable them to make the cut. Jumman, D.S. Raghuvanshi and Binod Pandey playing as a three ball on the first two rounds connived to submit false scores and reach the figure to play the third and fourth rounds.

On a complaint from a fellow player an enquiry was instituted by the Asian Tour tournament committee and finally the players confessed to their wrongdoing. The players were disqualified and further action is being contemplated.

The results: 1. Hendrik Buhrmann (RSA) (66,75,65,71) 277; 2. Simon Hurd (Eng) (67, 70, 69, 73) 279; 3. Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) (72, 71, 67, 70) 280; 4. Marcus Both (Aus) (70, 71, 70, 72) 283; 5. Garth Mulroy (RSA) (74, 68, 70, 72), Simon Griffiths (68, 72, 67, 77); Kane Webber (Aus) (69, 74, 66, 75) and Ashok Kumar (Ind) (67, 66, 73, 78) 284 each.

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