Golf: veteran Mukesh Kumar edges

Mukesh’s win on Friday earned him the winner’s cheque worth Rs 6,46,600 and helped him climb from third position to second spot in the Rolex Rankings (Order of Merit). This was also the 44-year-old’s first ever win in Pune and his 10th on the Aircel PGTI.

Mukesh Kumar (73-71-68-67),who was six strokes off the lead in tied ninth position after round three,produced yet another fine last round effort to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He had a sedate start to the day,having dropped a bogey on the fifth,but he started looking dangerous when he picked up birdies on the seventh,eight,

11th and 12th thanks to some outstanding chipping and putting.

A 15-feet birdie putt on the 15th lifted his game and confidence.

However,a three-putt led to a bogey on the 17th. Mukesh then closed the round on a high and took the match to a play-off when he produced a magnificent chip from 30 yards to set up an easy birdie on the 18th.

Mukesh and Rahil were all square after the first play-off hole. Mukesh then ran away with it on the second hole as he hit a brilliant second shot from 275 yards that landed 20 feet from the flag on the par five 18th. The old warhorse won with a par as Gangjee found the rough and the bunker on the same hole and as a result made bogey.

“I knew I was in contention after I made a great 15 footer for birdie on the 15th that put me in the joint lead along with Himmat Singh Rai. The chip on the 18th that landed a few inches from the pin tilted the scales in my favour as it led to a play-off,” said Mukesh,who has a terrific play-off record.

The winner of the highest number of titles on the Aircel-PGTI went on to add,“This win is special because I came back really well after having made a slow start to the tournament. This also happens to be my first win in Pune. The rough proved to be very challenging as I had never thought that the winning score this week would be as high as five under. I earned the reward for putting extremely well on the last two days. Rahil Gangjee’s (68-73-70-68) final round that included an eagle on the 10th,four birdies and three bogeys helped him secure his best finish of the year.

“I was one over on the front nine but then started pulling it back with the eagle-birdie on the 10th and 11th. I was not able to find the fairway on the last hole in the earlier rounds and that happened once again today and turned out to be the deciding factor between victory and defeat,” said Gangjee.

He added,“I’m satisfied with my effort since I’m playing good golf at the moment. I have been in contention on a number of occasions this year and that augurs well for my game.”

Gaganjeet Bhullar carded a 72 to finish in tied third at three under 281 along with overnight leader Himmat Singh Rai who returned a 75 on Friday.

Shamim Khan and Manav Jaini shared fifth spot at two under 282 while

Anirban Lahiri,Vinod Kumar and Karanjit Singh Sandhu were a further two strokes back in tied seventh. Lahiri fired a blistering 65 on Friday.

C Muniyappa was in tied 10th along with Feroz Ali Mollah and Pune-based amateur Aditya Bhandarkar at two over 286. Bhandarkar won the trophy for having finished with the best score among the amateurs.