Ashok Kumar etched his third straight win on the 2004-2005 season of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour when he clinched the Rs 10 lakh (one million) HT Pro Golf 2004 title.
His four day tally of 21-under 267 is the lowest tournament aggregate ever at the par-72 Classic Golf Resort, beating the earlier record of 17-under, set by Thongchai Jaidee in 2001.
Ashok, who carded a three-under 69 today won by four strokes over Asian gold medallist Shiv Kapur, earning himself a fat paycheck of Rs 1,62,000.
ShIv, who also returned a card of three-under for the day, received Rs 1,12,000 for his effort while Shamim Khan finished third with a four-day tally of 273, earning Rs 63000 in the bargain.
Meanwhile, even as all eyes followed the leadergroup, Mohammad Islam sizzled on the par-three second hole with a hole-in-one, his sixth on the Amby Valley PGAI Tour and tenth overall.
With this victory, Ashok jumped to the top of the order of merit, Rs 1,00,400 ahead of second-placed Mukesh. On his way to victory, Ashok duplicated his lowest tournament aggregate of 21-under, which he set at the Hindu Open this season.
Ashok's round did not start exactly the way he had intended when he bogeyed the second hole, a three-putt being the cause. However, he came back strongly as he birdied the very next hole, and then repeated this performance on the sixth. His return journey saw him successfully make a ten feet putt on the 12th and a beautiful chip shot on the 14th both efforts resulting in birdies.
"I'm absolutely thrilled with this performance and am now confident of playing on any Tour," said the winner.
Runner-up Shiv Kapur, who missed an opportunity of winning his second title on the Amby Valley PGAI Tour by finishing at 17-under, failed to grab an early initiative, making pars on his first four holes and following it up with a bogey on the fifth. However, a birdie on the very next hole got him back his confidence and he went to record birdies on the 12th and14th. He concluded his round in style when he chipped in for birdie on the 18th after driving his ball into the right bunker but the effort unfortunately came too late.
The closest that any of Ashok's competitors came to him was when on the 11th there was a two-stroke difference between Ashok and Shamim Khan. However, the 12th hole saw Ashok score a birdie while Shamim missed a chip-putt and when on the 13th Shamim made a bogey, Ashok's lead of four strokes with five holes remaining to play was too much for anyone to catch up with.
Chirag wins amateur title: Chirag Kumar carded a 75 today to finish win the amateurs title with a four-day tally of 289. Shaurya Singh finished second with 291.
(Scores after 72 holes) 267Ashok Kumar (66,69,63,69); 271 Shiv Kapur (68,68,66,69); 273 Shamim Khan (65,70,67,71); 276 Feroz Ali (69,71,69,67), Mukesh Kumar (70,69,67,70); 277 Md. Islam (68,69,72,68); 278 Amritinder Singh (71,69,67,71), DS Raghuvanshi(71,65,71,71); 279 US Mundy (65,73,74,67), Gaurav Ghei (70,67,72,70), C Muniyappa (71,67,65,76); 281 Vinod Kumar (66,73,68,74); 282 Rahul Ganapathy (67,74,70,71
Amateurs: 289 Chirag Kumar(75,68, 71, 75) ; 291 Shaurya Singh (68,77,74,72).
