MUMBAI, January 18: Defending champion Mukesh Kumar of College of Combat (Mhow) retained his crown at the 72-hole BPGC-ANZ Grindlays golf championship at the par-70 Bombay Presidency Golf Club today.In the bargain, he pushed overnight joint leaders Shiv Prakash of Kanpur and Arjun Atwal of Delhi to the second spot, edging them by one-hole to claim his first title since the BPGC Open last year.
Mukesh went home richer by Rs 80,000 while the two runners'-up pocketed Rs 40,000 each.
``The three birdies I got yesterday on the last three holes charged me up. And I came today with the intention of winning,'' revealed Mukesh, later in the evening.
He started well, firing a birdie on the first and till the eight hole, was one-under. But then he faltered, dropping shots on the eighth and ninth, which saw him finish the front nine one-over.
The return journey saw similar moments with two bogeys on the 12th and 14th but capped it well with a birdie on the 16th.
Runner-up Arjun came up with another
course-par round of 70 to add to his previous cards of 70, 70 and 68. It was Arjun's consistency which added to the excitement today. What was supposed to be a showdown between Mukesh and Shiv, ended between the former and Arjun.
On the 15th hole, Arjun fired a birdie to catch-up with Mukesh who had maintained his lead till then. But Arjun lost the initiative when he scored a par on the 16th while Mukesh birdied. This saw Mukesh again wrest into the lead. Arjun never got a chance to catch Mukesh from there-on after he parred the next two holes. On the 18th, Mukesh had a very good opportunity to fire eagle with a comfortable 12-feet shot but he two-putted it to par the hole. ``I knew Arjun was one stroke behind me as he had parred the 18th. So my caddie Raju and I decided to play it safe,'' said Mukesh.
Shiv Prakash had a rather bad card today of 73, his worst in the tournament. He fell one stroke behind Mukesh when he bogeyed on the sixth hole. He again dropped a shot on the 11th to fall behind Arjun who
till then was trailing him. But he came back strongly with two birdies on the 15 and 18th, with the latter helping him tally his aggregate with Arjun for the second spot.
Apart from Arjun Singh, Gaurav Ghei, Vishal Singh, Prakash Kubde and Jagdish Angre (both from Mumbai) had course-par scores today. As a special prize, Vishal Singh won a 14'' Onida TV for coming home with the best return card of 34.
India's second entry to the Johnnie Walker Classic, Arjun Atwal finished fourth with an aggregate of 283.
FINAL SCORES: 277- Mukesh Kumar (67+64+74+72); 278-Arjun Singh (70+70+68+70), Shiv Prakash (68+70+67+73); 283- Arjun Atwal (71+70+71+71), 285- Vijay Kumar (69+75+68+73), Rafiq Ali (71ø+70+70+74); 286- Ali Sher (68+72+74+72), Binod Pandey (67+73+67+79); 287- Basad Ali (71+73+72+71), Vishal Singh (72+72+73+70), Pappan (63+74+70+80)
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
