Shiv Prakash wins SRF Matchplay title
Veteran Shiv Prakash sizzled the Delhi Golf Club course
with five birdies in his first seven holes to evaporate all hopes of a dream
title for youngster Amit Dube as he won the Rs One million SRF All-India
Matchplay championship, which concluded on Saturday.
In the 36-hole final played in rather pleasant weather, the Kanpur-based pro
took a commanding six-hole lead after the morning session of 18 holes. Dube
fought back in the afternoon session, but the gap was too much to bridge.
In the play-off for the third and fourth place, the fifth seed Arjun Singh
walloped unseeded Dinesh Kumar by 6&4.
The 42-year-old Shiv Prakash won the second title of the 2001-02 season of
Hero Honda Golf Tour (having won the Cotton City Open in Coimbatore earlier
in August 2001) and took home the winner's cheque of Rs 175,000 in the
oldest running professional tournament on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour.
For the 26-year-old Dube, it was still a happy moment, as he received the
biggest pay cheque of his three-year career as a professional golfer.
Dube won Rs 100,000 for his effort.
"I played some of the best golf of my life during the morning session. It is
a tribute to Dube's game that he kept the lead down to three holes after I
made five birdies in the opening seven holes. Once I went six-up after 18
holes, there was no way I could have let the advantage go. Even though Amit
fought back and reduced the deficit to three, he was also running short of
holes. All I needed to do was win one hole and it would have been fine,"
said Shiv Prakash, who effectively sealed the issue on the 30th hole where
his 5-iron tee shot stopped just one roll short of a hole-in-one. The birdie
helped him go 4-up with eight to play.
"I did not play too well today. Not even half as well as when I played
against Arjun yesterday. However, Shiv played fantastic golf and did not
make any mistake. He was extremely straight off the tee and his putting was
great. Still, it has been my best performance as a pro and I am very happy
with the way I played over the last five days," said Dube whose previous
best finish on the Hero Honda Golf Tour was tied-fourth in Xerox Open in
2000.
Dube rued the way he played the last five holes in the morning session.
"After I hit a wild shot into the bushes to lose the hole on the ninth, I
could have won the 14th, 17th and 18th and reduced the gap to three holes.
But I lost the 14th to a bogey, missed a five-footer birdie putt on the
17th, and missed an easy chip-putt for birdie on the 18th from the fringe of
the green," said Dube.
Arjun Singh got off to a fast start against Dinesh Kumar en route to taking
home a cheque of Rs 50,000. Arjun won the first, third, fifth and eighth
holes with birdies, before Dinesh lost his accuracy and lost the ninth,
10th, 11th and 12th to pars. Arjun's only mistake in the front nine was a
bogey on the fourth, while Dinesh won the sixth hole with a birdie.
"I played well for the first few holes and was then helped by Dinesh's
problems off the tee," said Arjun after the round. "I am now looking forward
to some hard work over the next two weeks before I go to play the Asian PGA
Tour events in Korea," he added.
FINAL RESULTS (Seedings in prefix): 7-Shiv Prakash bt Amit Dube 4&3;
THIRD/FOURTH PLACE PLAYOFF: 5-Arjun Singh bt Dinesh Kumar 6&4
Yesterday's report
Amit Dube stuns Arjun Singh
