Arjun Singh wins Indian Masters

Fresh from a back-injury, Arjun Singh staged a remarkable fightback to steal the march over a star-studded field with his final day's score of six-under 66 handing him the winner's cheque of Rs 1,13,400 at the PGAI sponsored Rs 700,000 Indian Masters at the par-72, 6,623-yard Army Golf Course, in Delhi, on Friday.

Singh's tally stood at 15-under 273, while namesake Arjun Atwal despite carding a six-under 66 identical to the winner, was found wanting by one stroke. Overnight joint-leaders Gurgaon's Jyoti Randhawa and Meerut's Digvijay Singh settled for joint-third at 13-under 275, while the other overnight leader Kolkata's Uttam Mundy, finished fifth with an aggregate of 12-under 276.

Delhi's Vivek Bhandari occupied the sixth spot at 11-under 277 while Lucknow's Vijay Kumar, Kolkata's SSP Chowrasia and Jaipur's Vishal Singh were placed joint-seventh at nine-under 279.

"It is a huge relief," was how Arjun Singh summed up his victory.

A relief it was to him but for the others, it was a lesson in perseverance, determination and concentration. It was three long years ago when the Delhiite last won a tournament, the event in question being the Wills Masters played at the Classic Golf Resort in August '98. Last week, at the SRF Open, he was close to repeating the feat but Randhawa out-played him on that occasion.

Starting the day two strokes behind the leaders, Arjun warmed up with a par before essaying back-to-back birdies on the 2nd and 3rd. A well-sunk 12 feet birdie putt on the 6th preceded his only bogey of the day on the 7th, which he began with a bad drive and completed with a muffed up a five feet par putt. On his back-nine, there were only two eventful holes. A birdie on the 12th and the hole that proved crucial in handing him his win, the par-5 14th. On the 14th, tied at that stage with Atwal at 13-under, Arjun used a driver, 3-iron combination to good effect proceeding to sink the resultant 15 footer from the slope of the green.

"I knew after that eagle that I had a good chance to win," said Arjun. I put in a lot of hard work and all that seems worth the while now," concluded the champion.

Arjun Atwal was the other star performer on Friday. Starting the day three strokes behind the leaders, Atwal showed what a class player he is with a splurge of birdies on his front-nine, these coming on the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th. A lone bogey on the 8th placed him at three-under at the half-way stage. A well sunk ten feet birdie putt on the 11th and another birdie on the 12th were followed by a birdie finish to his round.

"I was trying to win all along. I figured I needed a 64 to win. Eventually even a 65 would have done the trick but I guess, I just missed out by one stroke," added the '99 Indian Open winner who earned Rs 78,400 for his efforts.

Randhawa, favourite to win the title on form, was unable to force a win today. The twice Hero Honda Masters winner birdied the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, 12th, 16th but dropped one shot too many, his errors coming on the 4th, 7th, 8th and 15th.

"I thought I had lost out to Uttam after my bogey on the 15th, but my birdie on the 16th put me back in contention in my mind. I had no clue about Arjun's eagle until the 17th," said Randhawa who returned a two-under 70 today. "All said and done, it was a great effort by Arjun and he deserves the win," he added.

Digvijay Singh had birdies on the 7th, 8th and 17th, bogeys on the 11th, 12th and 15th and an eagle on the 14th, where he chipped in with a lob wedge from over 40-yards. However, all this proved good enough to hand him only the joint-third spot and Rs 39,900 a sum identical to that which Randhawa earned.

"It was great learning. I was playing against some of the best golfers in Asia and two-under is no winning score under these circumstances," said the 30-year old golfer.

Vijay leads Mukesh in race for 'Order of Merit' supremacy: Vijay Kumar's aggregate of 297 aided by a final day's score of five-under 67 handed him a prize cheque of Rs 18,783 thereby granting him a Rs 21,073 cushion over Mukesh Kumar for the top spot on the 'Order of Merit'. Mukesh tallied eight-under 280 to pocket Rs 14,175 this week. With one event left to go this season, Mukesh still has a decent chance to upstage Vijay for the title.

Ashok wins amateur title: Ashok Kumar won the amateur title by a comfortable three-stroke margin. The 19 year old, tallied a six-under 282 courtesy a final day's score of 72. Three strokes behind Ashok, was Amit Luthra with a tally of three-under 285.

SCORES (after 72 holes): 273_Arjun Singh(68,68,71,66); 274_Arjun Atwal(67,74,67,66); 275_Digvijay Singh(69,68,68,70), Jyoti Randhawa(67,69,69,70); 276_Uttam Mundy(71,67,67,71); 277_Vivek Bhandari(68,71,68,70); 279_Vijay Kumar(67,74,71,67), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia(69,70,69,71), Vishal Singh(69,67,70,73); 280_Mukesh Kumar(67,72,69,72), Amritinder Singh(68,68,71,73); 281_Feroz Ali(73,67,73,68), Yusuf Ali(69,70,72,70), Harmeet Kahlon(70,71,68,72) Amateurs: 282_Ashok Kumar(68,71,71,72); 285_Amit Luthra(72,74,68,71) 292_Jasjeet Singh(72,74,73,73)