The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Jeev falters, ends 12th

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Tuesday, May 29, 2007
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Jeev falters, ends 12th

Wentworth: A poor back nine cost Jeev Milkha Singh a place in the top five and the Indian ace had to be content with a tied 12th finish in the BMW PGA championship here on Sunday.

The title went to Anders Hansen who edged out Justine Rose in the play-off. Hansen shot a final round of three-under 69 to catch up with Rose (71) as they both ended at eight-under 280. Hansen then won the play-off at Wentworth Club, Surrey, holing a tremendous 25-foot birdie putt.

Jeev was going great guns after racing through a sparkling front nine at three-under 32. Resuming his journey, Jeev parred the 10th hole before dropping three shots over the next three holes following a bogey on the 11th and a double bogey on the 13th.

Jeev parred the next five holes to complete his outing with an even-par round to total three-under for the tournament. He shared the 12th slot with seven others, including Paul Casey, Lee Westwood and Peter Lawrie.

On the front nine, Jeev had back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth holes, and another similar set on the eighth and ninth. In between, he dropped a shot on the par-three fifth but that was just an aberration. At six-under, Jeev was in title contention as the overnight leaders Paul Broadhurst (80) and Ross Fisher (84) faded on the first few holes itself.

Among Jeev's compatriots, Jyoti Randhawa (78) and Shiv Kapur (81) ended tied 60th and tied 67th respectively, after signing off with nightmarish rounds.

Randhawa had just two birdies against six bogeys and one double bogey, while it was worse with Kapur, who stuttered to his second successive round of 81. Kapur could not sink in a single birdie in his round which included seven bogeys and one double bogey.

Atwal finishes 14th

Arjun Atwal rediscovered his putting touch to return a second successive card of four-under 68 to finish tied 14th in the U.S. Nationwide Tour at the Prince George's County Open at Mitchville.

Atwal, who was tied 71st after the first round, fired an eagle and four birdies against a couple of bogeys to take his total to 11-under 277.

Paul Claxton shot a bogey-free final-round 67 to win the title by one stroke over Jaco Van Zyl and James Driscoll.

Atwal began with a bogey on the third hole but made up with a birdie on the next, and fired an eagle on the sixth.

He then fired birdies from the 11th to 13th to set himself up for a possible top-10 finish, but a bogey on the par-five 14th dashed his hopes.

This was Atwal's second top-15 finish in the U.S. Nationwide Tour. He finished sixth in the Livermore Wine Country championship in Georgia in April.

The best news for Atwal was his putting as he topped the putting average with 26 per round. It was in putting averages that Atwal topped the PGA Tour in 2005, and his poor form with the putter last year saw him drop out of the top-125 and miss his card.

He is now playing on limited exemption and on other weeks like this one, he has been on the Nationwide Tour, the second Tour in the U.S. — PTI

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