Feroz, Amritinder lead field in Nepal Masters

Even though last year’s champion Vijay Kumar will not be here to defend his title — he is representing India in the Alfred Dunhill Cup at the St Andrews, a battle royale is in the offing for fans here. The two protagonists of the drama are Calcutta’s Color Plus Open champion Feroz Ali and Amritinder Singh of Chandigarh.

Both players have been in superb form this season with Feroz leading the Order of Merit at Rs 1,99,850 and Amritinder a close second at Rs 1,90,450. While the 1998 Wills Indian Open champion won the Color Plus Open and finished joint second at the Hindu Cosmo Open, Amritinder has finished runner-up in all three tournaments so far.

The field was boosted by the presence of former champion Indrajit Bhalotia and Uttam Singh Mundy. Also in action will be twice Indian Open champion Ali Sher and Mhow’s Mukesh Kumar, who finished fourth in the Order of Merit last season.

Team Feroz wins Pro-Am: Feroz Ali and his team of Gopal Chitrakar and LP Gurung won the team title in the Surya Nepal Masters pro-am played today. They had a total of 114 Stableford points. However, the performance of the day came from veteran Rohtas Singh, who returned the best card of five-under 67, two better than the 1997 champion Uttam Singh Mundy who made a 69. Sanjay Kumar, who scored a hole-in-one with his very first shot and his team of Lakshman Singh, Bipal Pandey and Vijay Einhans took the second place with a total of 107 Stableford points.