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Mukesh Kumar is champion

Principal Correspondent

GOLF / Sanjay finishes second

— Photo: R. Ragu

UNSTOPPABLE: Mukesh Kumar played some superb golf to clinch the title.

CHENNAI: “The fight is for the second place,” a promising young golfer’s father said after watching Mukesh Kumar on the 13th hole — the winner was pretty much decided even before that — on the final day of the TNGF Open golf championship at the Madras Gymkhana links here on Saturday.

Mukesh made sure he didn’t fritter away the eight-stroke lead he had gained the previous day and clinched his fourth title of the season.

Mukesh carded a five under 65 final round (total of 21 under 259, which happens to be a course record for four rounds at the MGC) to take the winner’s prize money of Rs. 3,23,300.

Fine start

Mukesh was quick to get off the blocks. He began with birdies on the third and fifth holes followed by birdies on the 10th, 12th, 15th and 16th. The man behind his success has been his caddie for more than 20 years — Raju Sharma. Sharma’s unwavering support coupled with Mukesh’s excellent driving and putting, especially over the last three days, has been the feature of the 43-year-old professional’s victory.

“It feels good to win here. This has been one of my favourite courses and I love coming here as it reminds me of my course, the Army Golf Club at Mhow,” said Mukesh.

Sanjay Kumar, placed fourth overnight, jumped to second place after returning a three under card for a total of 270. The 37-year-old from Lucknow had a decent front nine with three birdies but a bogey on the par 3 fourth hole marred his fine effort to some extent.

He had a similar experience on the back nine: two birdies on the 12th and 13th and a bogey on the par 4 tenth hole. “This has been my best finish on the PGTI so far,” said Sanjay.

Bangalore pro C. Muniyappa, who did well to climb to second spot on the penultimate day, failed to keep his momentum. His card of one under pushed him down to joint third place with Shankar Das, Vijay Kumar and Vikrant Chopra.

Amateur title for Tarun

The amateur title was won by Chennai’s Tarun Veeraraghavan (72, 75, 71, 76), who finished tied 49th at 14 over 294. The Pro-am event will be held on Sunday.

The scores (after 72 holes):

259: Mukesh Kumar (Mhow, 67, 63, 64, 65); 270: Sanjay Kumar (Lucknow, 70, 68, 65, 67); 271: Vikrant Chopra (Delhi, 66, 73, 67, 65); Vijay Kumar (Lucknow, 69, 67, 67, 68); C. Muniyappa (Bangalore, 70, 65, 67, 69); Shankar Das (Kolkata, 67, 69, 66, 69); 273: Ashok Kumar (Delhi, 71, 67, 68, 67); 275: Gaurav Pratap Singh (Delhi, 68, 70, 68, 69); A.S. Lehal (Chandigarh, 65, 71, 70, 69); 276: Shiva Ram Shrestha (Kathmandu, 68, 73, 66, 69); R. Srinivas (Bangalore, 67, 69, 71, 69); Vivek Bhandari (Delhi, 67, 69, 70, 70); Yusuf Ali (Kolkata, 70, 69, 65, 72); Rafick Ali Mollah (Kolkata, 65, 68, 70, 73).

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