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Express News Service
October 9: Consistency more than spectacular golf could have the final say in the Le Meridien-Gokrarna gold tournament at the Delhi Golf Club. The secret in this tournament, which has seen many of players swing from one extreme to the other in successive rounds, could well be to play percentage golf -- guard against costly errors in the bushes or roughs and make no mistakes with the short putts.
In a field which had more than 100 starters, Ali Sher and Shiv Prakash remain as the only ones not to have gone above par so far in the three days. They share the lead with two under par aggregates of 214 after 54 holes, while the 51-year-old Vikramjit Singh, in his first season as a pro, shot another great round to be one stroke behind them. Ali Sher, winner of the Indian Open twice on this course, went one under while Shiv Prakash was par for the course. Vikramjit, who started out with a 76 on first day has been in great form since. He followed his second round 70 with a fine 69 today.
One other golfer who hasbeen fairly consistent has been Basad Ali, who has shot 73, 72 and 71 so far.
Most other golfers have suffered from fluctuating fortunes thus far. Ajay Gupta, whose 78 and 75 on the first two days were hardly mentionworthy brought in the third day's best card with four under 68. Gupta, more into coaching than playing, had one eagle and four birdies but he also shot two bogies. He eagled the 14th and missed a five-foot putt for a eagle on the eighth.
Ali Sher's problem with putting continued though his driving has been keeping his scores in control, while Shiv Prakash's block continues to be the 16th, where for the third day running he bogeyed.
Leading Scores(after 54 holes)
214: Shiv Prakash (72, 70, 72), Ali Sher (72, 71, 71); 215:Vikramjit Singh (76, 70, 69); 216: Basad Ali (73, 72, 71); 217: Vijay Kumar (75, 68, 74); 218: Vivek Bhandari (71, 74, 73), Amritinder Singh (71, 75, 72); Jyoti Randhawa (78, 70, 70); 220: SSP Chowrasia (75, 70, 75), Jumman (74, 77, 69); 221: Gaurav Ghei (71, 77,73), Prem (73, 76, 72), Ajay Gupta (78, 75, 68); 222:
Sanjay Kumar (74, 71, 77), Manohar Dighe (72, 75, 75), Gast Ram (75, 74, 73); 223: Vishal Singh (72, 75, 76); 226: Mohd Islam (79, 76, 71); 227:Mohd Maqbool (73, 80, 74), AS Johl (79, 76, 72); Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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