Tags:
Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, February 5: On an eventful day when both the third and quarter-final rounds were played, the Calcutta pro overcame citymate Uttam Singh Mundy in the morning session and then tripped top seed Vijay Kumar to move closer for a second successive shy at the Rs 10 lakh championship, the one of it8217;s kind on the Wills Sport Golf Tour.
He now takes on Mhow8217;s Mukesh Kumar in the first semi-final tomorrow. The latter, who has had a lean season, outplayed veteran Basad Ali on the 16th to make it to the last four.
Shiv, however has a tough customer next in Amandeep Johl. The 30-year-old from Chandigarh played an attacking game today to quell twice Indian Open champion Ali Sher Round Three and a rampaging Jumman.
It had probably to do something with his employers 8212; SAIL 8212; that Johl showed nerves of steel in clinching the issue on both occasions. With Ali Sher the match boiled down to the final hole. Down by a stroke after 16, Sher fired a birdie on the par-three 17th, termed by most pros as difficult even to par.
On the final, it was Johl8217;s turn for fireworks. In trying to attack the pin, Johl landed on the left bunker from where he had a good chip to land on the greens. Even then Ali had a chance to as he needed to sink a four feet putt for birdie. But horror of horrors Ali missed the sitter and with it a chance for a quarter-final berth.
The Bhalotia-Vijay Kumar encounter was also a thriller. With Vijay I started badly,8221; said the former who was three-down after 10 holes. But there were achange of fortunes from thereon as Vijay started fumbling with his shots. Bogeys on the 11th, 13th, 14th and 15th saw the balance tilt in Bhalotia8217;s favour. Having made it so far even after not being in best of form, the defending champion kept his cool to fire a birdie on the 15th.
With a stroke down on the 18th greens, Vijay holed a 10-feet putt for a birdie to put the pressure back on Bhalotia. The latter had a tough task with a four feet downhill putt to be sunk for a birdie which he had to and did for his tenth successive win of the tournament.
Results
Round 3: 1-Vijay Kumar bt Devendra Patel 4/3, 8-Indrajit Bhalotia bt Uttam Singh Mundy 3/2, 4-Basad Ali w/o 13-Yusuf Ali, 5-Mukesh Kumar bt Chini Ali 1 up, 2-Shiv Prakash bt Rohtas Singh 7/6, Bunty Randhawa bt 7-Sanjay Kumar, Amndeep Johl bt 3-Ali Sher 1 up, Jumman bt Ranjit Singh 7/6.
Quarter-final: Bhalotia bt Vijay 1 up, Mukesh bt Basad 4/2, Shiv bt Randhawa 6/5, Johl bt Jumman 2 up.
