Only one man could have beaten Vijay Kumar on Saturday - he himself. But with the Lucknow maestro excelling in the art of self-preservation, the rest of the field restricted their fight for second place as Vijay Kumar cruised to his first win of 2003-04 season at the Rs One million Hero Honda Open West, which concluded at the par-71 Poona Club Golf Course, on Sunday.
Vijay closed with a one-over 72 for a four-day aggregate of 11-under 273, which was four strokes better than the second-placed Yusuf Ali. The Kolkata pro shot a two-under 69 to finish at seven-under 277.
On a day when only four players broke par, Ajay Gupta of Delhi climbed to tied third place at four-under 280 with a 69, where Ashok Kumar joined him a little while later following a 73.
The victory was worth Rs 1,62,000 for Vijay, while Yusuf, who finished runner-up last year, had to be satisfied with a cheque of Rs 1,12,000 again. Ajay Gupta and Ashok Kumar were richer by Rs 57,000. Dr VT Date bagged the best amateur gross prize with a score of 318.
"I have been playing well lately, but things were not falling in place for four complete rounds. Even here, I was not too happy with the way I played the first two rounds, but the 64 on day three changed everything.Thereafter, all I had to do was not lose the tournament. I started a little shakily today, but once I holed my putt on the sixth and birdied the seventh, I felt much more comfortable," said the 2002 Indian Open champion.
Vijay looked in a spot of bother when he started with a bogey on the opening hole, and dropped another stroke on the par-3 fourth after visiting the bunker with his tee shot. But a 20-footer birdie putt on the sixth put him back on track, and he celebrated that with another on the seventh, where he nailed his pitching wedge third shot to an inch from the pin.
At the halfway stage, Vijay was 11-under and five strokes better than Ashok, Digvijay and Yusuf. On the back nine, Vijay made birdies on the 11th and 14th and bogeys on the 13th and 18th to finish the day at one-over 72.
Yusuf started with birdies on the difficult second and third holes and was eight-under after making birdies on the 10th and 11th. However, he found the water hazard on the 12th to make a bogey, which effectively put a brake on his charge.
Ajay Gupta started with a bogey, but five birdies and two more bogeys ensured him his best finish in a long time. Ashok started with a birdie, but never got going after a three-putt bogey on the second.
Scores (after 72 holes): 273 _ Vijay Kumar (69,68,64,72); 277 _ Yusuf Ali (67,67,74,69); 280 _ Ajay Gupta (70,67,74,69), Ashok Kumar (72,67,68,73); 281 _ Digvijay Singh (71,68,71,71), SSP Chowrasia (71,69,68,73); 282 _ Uttam Singh Mundy (73,68,70,71); 283 _ Feroz Ali (70,69,71,73); 284 _ Ranjit Singh (74,67,72,71); 285 _ Rafiq Ali (70,71,71,73), Rahul Ganapathy (71,67,73,74), Jaiveer Virk (66,74,68,77); 286 _ Sanjay Kumar (72,71,72,71), Arjun Singh (71,72,69,74), 287 _ S Madaiah (72,72,73,70), Naman Dawar (73,70,72,72), Jumman (75,69,69,74).