It was a battle between youth and experience. The latter prevailed.
The experienced Mukesh Kumar, who is known for his last day heroics, once again staged a superb comeback to win the HT Proi Golf 2003, the seventh leg of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour at the Classic Golf Resort in Gurgaon on Friday.
Beginning the day with two strokes behind leader Rahil Gangjee, Mukesh pipped the Kollkata pro by a solitary stroke to win his second title of the season with a total of 12-under par 276.
The other contender, Digvijay Singh, dropped three strokes today to finish third at six-under 282 while exciting rookie Gurbaaz Mann ended up sharing the fourth spot with the experienced Vijay Kumar, with a total of 283.
Pappan and defending champion S S P Chowrasia were tied for the sixth spot while `Rookie of the year' for the 2002-03 season Ashok Kumar and Gaurav Ghei shared the eighth position.
Mukesh Kumar was richer by Rs 1,29,600 while Rahil had to settle for Rs 89,600.
The battle for supremacy lasted till the finishing hole. Both Rahil and Mukesh missed some easy putts initially till Mukesh holed a 20-footer left to right downhill putt on the par-3 fifth for his second birdie of the day.
The issue was almost decided on the par-5, 14th, where Rahil and Mukesh were tied with 11-under each. Rahil missed a six-feet par putt while Mukesh chipped to four feet and made a birdie to go two strokes ahead.
However, Mukesh lost a stroke on the 16th where he three-putted which narrowed his lead to a single stroke. Rahil missed a golden opportunity to equalise on the par-3 17th where he failed to sink a short birdie putt. On the final stretch, Rahil duffed his second shot and had to settle for a par which gave Mukesh the much-needed victory and a morale booster before he locks horns in the US $300,000 Hero Honda Masters next week.
Rahil's round was laced with three birdies on the third, seventh where he chipped-in from the edge and the par-4 15th.
"It was a tough fight. I won because I played well and not because of my opponent's mistakes. It was a close one till the 14th from where I took charge and kept it going," said Mukesh Kumar, who registered his first victory on this course.
"I am disappointed for missing out the title for the second time in a row. But I have learnt some lessons and I promise it will be a better show next time," said Rahil.
Digvijay, meanwhile, had a disastrous start, making consecutive bogeys on the first two holes and added two more on the fourth and 13th. He had a solitary birdie on the third.
"I am upset with my driving. I better get back in shape before the big one next week," said Digvijay.
Aditya Singh shone amongst the amateurs, finishing with a creditable 12-over par 300 to win the amateurs title.
Top scores after 72 holes: 276_ Mukesh Kumar (69,67,71,69); 277_Rahil Gangjee (69,66,70,72); 282_Digvijay Singh (68,68,71,75),; 283_Vijay Kumar (71,74,69,69), Gurbaaz Mann (72,72,69,70); 284_ Pappan (71,72,70,71), SSP Chowrasia (70,69,74,71); 285_Ashok Kumar (71,73,71,70), Gaurav Ghei
(69,70,73,73); 289_Randhir Ghotra (72,74,71,72), Amritinder Singh (74,73,69,73), Amit Dube (70,74,71,74), Vivek Bhandari (72,71,71,75).
Amateurs: 300_Aditya Singh (74,74,78,74).