CHANDIGARH, April 13: The Chandigarh Open Spice Ladies Amateur Golf Championship, got underway at the Chandigarh Golf Club today. Today's competition, which is a warm up for the stroke play event that starts from tomorrow, was won by Deepu Dhanoa and Amandeep Bhaika, as they combined to bring in a score of +6. Amandeep had birdies on the 2nd, 9th, 13th and the 18th where he chipped in for birdie. This gave them four points.The other two points were gained by Deepu on the 5th and 7th, where she made par, nett birdie. The second prize for this event went to Brig. Bains and junior golfer Connie Sayal from Delhi, who plays off a handicap of 17. Their score was +5 and they finished one point ahead of a four-way tie for third place.Local youngster, Irina Brar combined with K.S Sibia, currently playing his first year as a professional golfer, to win the third prize. However, the same score, +4, was brought in by three other groups as well.The teams of Neelu Chopra and Rohit Dagar, and a father-son tie, IPS Mann and Gurbaaz Mann, who teamed up with their partners, Dalbir Sahi and Ayesha Kapur, all brought in scores of +4. As the others dropped out on countback, there was a very close tie between the teams of Irina Brar and KS Sibia and Ayesha Kapur and Gurbaaz Mann. They had the same score for the last nine holes, the last six holes and even the last three holes. The winner was finally decided after they went back hole by hole.The lady Captain, Dalbir Sahi, was happy with the response that this event received from the members. She was glad with so many entries, saying the event will be counted as a qualifying tournament for the Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Championship to be held later this year.However, the scores this year were not as good as they have been in the past, when they used to go upto +10. The reason for this could have been the high temperatures this year as this tournament is usually played in March when the weather is much cooler.Sean Dexter, Managing Director, Punjab, performed the ceremonial tee off and was accompanied by his wife Monica, also a keen golfer. After hitting the first shot they watched as the lucky partners went off to play against bogey competition that decided the day's winners. The stroke play competition will begin from tomorrow and the winner will be decided over 54 holes. Shruti Khanna, who did not play this event last year, is the top seed for the event. Local golfers, who are also strong contenders for the title are Parneeta Grewal and Irina Brar. Ayesha Kapur, who carded a three over today is also in good form and another golfer to watch out for.ResultsWinners: Deepu Dhanoa and Amandeep Bhaika +6.Runners-up: Connie Sayal and Brig. Bains +5.Second Runners-Up: Irina Brar and KS Sibia +4.
