Luck deserted Arjun when he was peaking

Delhi’s Arjun Singh was first off the block with a solid performance to win the Rs 15-lakh Wills Masters which was played at the stunning Jack Nicklaus-designed Classic Golf Resort. Arjun then finished fourth in the Hindu Cosmo Open and tied second in McDowell’s Centenary Open at Bangalore Golf Club.

It looked as if the year would belong to this silent and introvert golfer, who never missed a single cut in all the Asian PGA Tour events he played since the start of 1998. But Lady Luck abandoend his side when he suffered a shoulder muscle problem in October and was out of action till may this year.

In the meantime, Kanpur’s Shiv Prakash continued his love story with Bangalore by winning both the early season tournaments there — the rain-plagued Wills Southern Open and the McDowell’s Centenary Open.

This was Shiv’s fourth title win at Bangalore. He added another title by winning the Crompton Greaves matchplay in Mumbai to finally finish second in the Order of Merit with earnings of Rs 10.34 lakh.

Gaurav Ghei, strugglig with personal probelms and injuries throughout a winless 1997-98, struck rich form by winning the Hindu-Cosmo Open in Chennai for the thrid time in four years with a superb score of 13-under. Later, in the season, he won the Rs 15-lakh Mahindra invitation, a `major’ event on the Wills Sport Golf Tour, in Mumbai exactly a weak after getting married.

Professional golf returned to Madras Gymkhana at Guindy with the new Colour Plus Open and Lucknow’s Sanjay Kumar sealed his maiden title victory with a solid performance of nine-under. It was a creditable performance from Sanjay who was being hounded by veteran Shiv Prakash on the final day. Later, in the season, Sanjay sank an amazing 25-footer on the final hole of the Wills Northern Open in his hometown to secure the runner-up ahead of Vijay Kumar.

Twice Indian Open champion Ali Sher also ran into form when he won two events in three. He first triumphed in the Le Meridien Gokarna Pro-Am, a new tournament played in the Bob Hope Classic format, and then the Wills Northern Open in Lucknow. He finished the season with earnings of Rs 5.96 lakh, ensuring him the eighth place in the Order of Merit.

After finishing runner-up twice, Vijay Kumar won the first title of the season in the seventh event, the Royal Challenge-Aravalli Open at Faridabad. On the final day, Vijay overcame Vishal Singh of Jaipur to set the ball rolling for the seaon.

He then captured the Surya Nepal Open in Kathmandu, which became part of the Wills Sport Golf Tour starting 1998-99, the Wills Western Open in Poona, the ONGC-NOIDA Golf Club Open when Amandeep Johl bungled on the alst hole and then wrote his finest chapter at the same venue on an extremely cold February day.

Vijay won the Sir Padampat Singhania Open, played under extremely difficult conditions and on an unforgiving course, with an aggregate of 12-under 276. The significance of his performance is magnified when the score of the runner-up, Uttam Singh Mundy, is taken into account. Mundy finished ten strokes behind at two-under 286 and they were the only two to break par in four rounds.

The `big bull’ of Indian golf then sustained a shoulder injury while playing the Wills Indian Open, but came back in style a month alter by winning the prestigious SRF Open, his first win at the Delhi Golf Club. The icing on the cake came was his winning the Mahindra Gofler of the Year award for the second year running. The award comes with a cash prize of Rs 5.76 lakh.

Another big man with bid deeds during the 1998-99 season was the bearded Uttam Singh Mundy of Calcutta, enjoying what was definitely the best year of his career, Mundy won the Rs 28 lakh.

Honda-Siel PGA championship for the second time in four eyars, and then went on to win the BPGC Open in Mumbai and Wills-AGC Meerut Open. Mundy finished third in the Order of Merit with earnings of Rs 9.53 lakh, the best-ever finish of his career. In between, Mundy also had the heartbreak of missing the cut in the Wills Indian Open when he droped six strokes in four holes during the back nine on the second day when he looked all set to enter the money making round.

Old warhorse Basad Ali, who won as many as 58 titles between mid 80s to mid 90s, proved he is still a force to reckon with in Indian gold when he defended his Cyanamid Open title successfully at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club and then added another during the Navy Pro-Am at the sea-side US Club Course in Mumbai. Basad finished fifth in the Order of Merit with earnings of Rs 6.90 lakh.

Mhow’s Mukesh Kumar despite finishing fourth in the Order of Merit with Rs 7.75 lakh earnings, had a frustrating season during which he finished runner-up on no less than four ocassions, including the Crompton Greaves all-India matchplay. The only tournament he won was the Wills Eastern Open at the Tolly Club in Calcutta, thanks to this two sizzling opening rounds of six-under 64.

The man who was responsible for a major portion of Mukesh Kumar’s misery was Rafiq Ali. The younger brother of 1998 Wills Indian Open champion finished the season with a bang by winning the last two tournaments — the Patna Open and the Wills Open, which was played in Bangalore to celebrate the silver jubilee of the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course. In both the tournaments, Rafiq pipped Mukesh to the KGA course. In both the tournaments, Rafiq pipped Mukesh to the post. His exploits during the fag end of the season propelled Rafiq to seventh finish in the Order of Merit with earnings of Rs 6.08 lakh.

Another winner on the Wills Sport Golf Tour this season was Amritinder Singh. The Chandigarh Pro beat European PGA Tour regular Jeev Milkha Singh in front of their homecrowd to win the Hero Golf Chandigarh Open. It must have been a satisfying moment for Amritinder who finished runner-up in two majors — the Wills Masters and the Crompton Greaves all-India matchplay — last season.

The top-10 in 1998-99 Order of Merit: 1. Vijay Kumar (Lko) Rs 13.42 lakh 2. Shiv Prakash (Kan) Rs 10.34 lakh 3. Uttam Singh Mundy (Cal) Rs 9.53 lakh 4. Mukesh Kumar (Mhow) Rs 7.75 lakh 5. Basad Ali (Cal) Rs 6.90 lakh 6. Gaurav Ghei (Del) Rs 6.89 lakh 7. Rafiq Ali (Cal) Rs 6.08 lakh 8. Ali Sher (Del) 5.96 lakh 9. Jyoti Randhawa (Del) Rs 5.68 lakh 10. Feroz Ali (Cal) Rs 5.52 lakh.