Ashok makes it 4 in a row

Ashok started the day with birdies on the opening holes and then made two more birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to be four-under through nine holes. As a result, he was relaxed playing the back nine as he had a five stroke lead, which he narrowed down to four with a bogey on the 13th but an errant drive on the last that resulted in his taking a drop from the water hazard saw him finish with a final round of four-under-par.

‘‘I am happy with the way I am playing and hope to take this form with me into next week, when I play in China,’’ said Ashok, who has won Rs 709,000 in just six weeks on this tour.

SCORES (after 72 holes)

271 Ashok Kumar (67, 67, 69, 68); 277 Digvijay Singh (69, 72, 68, 68), Shiv Kapur (68, 72, 68, 69); 278 Mukesh Kumar (69, 71, 68, 70); 280 Harinder Gupta (72, 72, 68, 68); 281 Vijay Kumar (73, 67, 73, 68); 282 Gaurav Ghei (70, 71, 74, 67), S Madaiah (69, 66, 72, 75); 286 Ranjit Singh (68, 73, 73, 72), Gurbaaz Mann (71, 69, 72, 74), Sanjay Kumar (72, 71, 68, 75), Ali Sher (70, 69, 72, 75); Amateurs: 290 Gagan Verma (68, 75, 75, 72); 294 Jasjeet Singh (74, 67, 80, 73)