Basad Ali triumphs

CALCUTTA, May 2: Veteran golfer Basad Ali finally dropped a stroke in the last round of the Cyanamid Golf Championships at the Royal Calcutt...

CALCUTTA, May 2: Veteran golfer Basad Ali finally dropped a stroke in the last round of the Cyanamid Golf Championships at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club course today. However, that did not change the way the final standings were supposed to be. Basad, who can perhaps walk blindfolded through the RCGC without hitting a tree, won the Rs 5 lakh tournament with an aggregate of two under 286. Today8217;s round of one over 73 only proved that he too can succumb to difficult conditions on home turf. Basad collected Rs 83,300 for his victory.

Another RCGC boy came up with the best round of the day to finish second. Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia8217;s performance graph in this meet has been a real see-saw puzzle. He was the joint leader on Day one before a poor second round sent him sliding down. A sub-par round yesterday followed by the day8217;s best today at three under 69. Chowrasia, the 20-year-old in his first year in the circuit, finished with an aggregate of one over 289. He took home the runners-up cheque for Rs55,500.

The third spot was shared by Delhi8217;s Ali Sher and Indrajit Bhalotia, both playing level par today. They aggregated four over 292. Rajeev Mohta dropped two strokes to end the day at two over 74, and the tournament at six over 294. Rafiq Ali was placed sixth with seven over 277 while Mohammad Islam and Classic Indian Open champion Firoz Ali were tied at seventh with nine over 297.

Basad8217;s nephew Yousuf Ali, who was at the second spot yesterday, found his drives failing to listen to him today. He had a very poor round of 77 to finish ninth with 10 over 298.

For Basad, it was his first tournament victory of the year. 8220;With the seven stroke lead I enjoyed after the third round, I was confident of winning. Unless of course, I did something foolish,8221; Basad said after receiving his winner8217;s cheque. 8220;I just tried to hit the fairways and aimed for par.8221; He started off with a birdie in the par-three second hole, only to follow that with bogeys on the third and the seventh. Another bogey on the par-five15th, was negated by a birdie in the 16th. He played par in the next two holes.

Young Chowrasia, on the other hand, played a bogey free round of golf today. With birdies on the fifth, 15th and the 18th, Chowrasia had one of his finest rounds. The birdie on the 15th was exceptional for its 35-foot putt. He had a bad drive which landed into the bushes on the left. Coming out with a safety shot, he overshot the green with his next stroke. A beautiful 35-foot chip found the ball sinking into the hole.

Firoz Ali, the Classic Indian Open champion, also had a fairly satisfactory round in spite of his illness. After dropping four strokes in the front nine, he came home with two under on the back-nine. His aggregate might not sound too good, but the very fact that he overcome the viral infection to stay in the race till the end, is in itself a commendable effort.

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Scores: 286 Basad Ali; 289 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia; 292 Ali Sher, Indrajit Bhalotia; 294 Rajeev Mohta; 295 Rafiq Ali; 297 Mohammad Islam, FirozAli; 298 Yousuf Ali; 301 Rohtas Singh.