Chennai, Sept 4: If Calcutta's Feroz Ali thought making up a four-stroke was akin to a Sunday stroll on the golf course, then he had another thing coming. For, when it mattered most, pressure got the better of him and his three consecutive bogeys on the back nine left in the bunker, as it were, as Vijay Kumar won the Cosmo-Hindu Open tournament today, sparing six strokes.The 31-year old from Lucknow and winner of Mahindra Golfer of the Year award two years running, kept his nerve to see off Feroz's charge on the front nine to finish the event at a four-round total of 14-under 274, and richer by Rs 1.13 lakh. Feroz and Amritinder Singh (both 280) shared the second spot with Gaurav Ghei (281) finishing fourth.
Incidentally, Vijay Kumar's total was a tournament record, bettering Ghei's winning score of 275 last year. Though Vijay did not play as well as he did in the previous three rounds and managed only an one-under 71, Feroz fared far worse with a one-over 73, while Ghei had far too much to do at thestart and his two-under 70, including an eagle on the sixth, left him well adrift of the leaders.
Amritinder Singh, meanwhile, brought in the day's best card of five-under 67 which helped him jump two places from his overnight fourth.
All was over bar the shouting much before the last batch of Vijay, Ghei and Feroz trooped into the club house, a little past noon. Feroz bogeyed the 13th, 14th and 15th, and it virtually destroyed his chances, and, if anything, he was no Houdini to pick up nearly seven strokes on the final three holes.
Among amateurs, local challenger CV Yudhvir came up trumps with a four-round total of 304, well clear of second placed Vivek Vijayaraghavan (316).
TOP SCORES
Professionals: 274 - Vijay Kumar (69,66,68,71); 280 - Amritinder Singh (70,70,73,67), Feroz Ali (70,70,67,73); 281 - Gaurav Ghei (67,74,70,70); 285 - Mukesh Kumar (70,74,73,68), Rejwan Ali (69,73,73,70); 286 - Basad Ali (73,73,69,71), Amit Dube (72,73,68,73), Uttam Singh Mundy (75,68,70,73), Shiv Prakash(71,69,73,73); 287 - Bhoop Singh (71,72,73,71); 288 - Devendra Patel (70,75,73,70); 289 - Gast Ram (69,74,73,73); 291 - Ali Sher (65,77,74,75); 292 - Indrajit Bhalotia (73,75,72,72), Manohar Dike (72,71,75,74), Rohtas Singh (74,70,73,75), Sanjay Kumar (71,74,71,76).
Amateurs: 304 - CV Yudhvir (76,70,80,78); 316 - Vivek Vijayaraghavan (75,80,82,79); 322 - Gaurav Syal (76,77,81,88); 324 - D Nagaraj (76,78,83,87).
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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