Pappan's team wins Surya Nepal Masters pro-am

Delhi pro Pappan led his team to victory in the pro-am event of the Surya Nepal Masters, the curtain-raiser to the Rs 800,000 tournament which begins at the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort from Wednesday.

At the par-72 course, Pappan's team of Deepak Raj Bhandari, Prabhakar Yakhtumba and Pradeep Rana tallied 74 stableford points to emerge clear winners over the second placed team of Bijesh Shahi, Min Bahadur Raut and Phintsho O Lama, led by pro Shiv Prakash of Kanpur, who tallied 72 points.

Mukesh Kumar, Player of the Year last season on the Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour, helped his team with 35 points as his partners Ms Dichen Lama, Rahil Gangjee and Harish Gorsia managed a total of 71 points to take the second runners-up spot.

For their effort, Pappan received Rs 2,500, Shiv Prakash Rs 2,000 and Mukesh Kumar was richer by Rs 1,500. The amateurs will get exquisite crystal trophies during the main prize distribution ceremony on Saturday evening.

The best card of the day among the pros was submitted by the 1997 champion Uttam Singh Mundy. The 35-year-old Calcutta-based pro send a clear warning to the rest of the field as he was the only player to record a sub-par round of two-under 70.

Mundy made bogies on the second and sixth holes, but recovered to be level-par at the turn with birdies on the seventh and ninth holes. On the back nine, the twice PGA champion of India made further birdies on the 10th and 18th holes for his two-under card. Mundy received Rs 1,000 for his best round.

The pro-am was played on a team stableford format, with one pro forming team with three amateurs. The two best scores out of the four formed the team score.

The main tournament will tee off at 8:00 am on Wednesday morning. A record number of participants have entered the tournament with 51 pros coming from India, one from Bangladesh and 11 from Nepal. As many as 15 amateurs will complete the field of 78 golfers. Among the amateurs are India's No 1 player Rahil Gangjee, who will fight it out for top honours with Nepali amateurs Yelamber Adhikari and CB Bhandari.

Among the pros, Shiv Prakash, twice winner on the Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour this season and the current leader in the Order of Merit, will be the man to watch out for, but he will face tough challenge from Mukesh Kumar, last season's Player of the Year and winner of last week's ONGC-Noida Golf Club Open.

Also in the fray are Vijay Kumar, the Order of Merit winner for last three seasons and twice Honda Siel-Nike PGA champion Uttam Singh Mundy.