Ghei remains ahead

By Our Sports Reporter

GURGAON, OCT. 19. Their scores in the penultimate round was same but their assertion came at extremely different stages. While Gaurav Ghei remained ahead throughout after his three birdies in the first four holes, Jyoti Randhawa showed glimpses of his prowess with a birdie-eagle culmination to set up a possible intriguing finale.

The duo slammed a four-under 68 apiece as the overnight leader Ghei hung on to his one-stroke lead, at 14-under 202, in the inaugural HT pro golf tournament at the DLF Golf and Country Club here on Thursday.

The third player in the leader group will be Arjun Atwal, who carded a 68 for the second day in running. Atwal was at 207 along with Vishal Singh, who managed a 71.

If prior to the event, one was searching for a golfer to pose a challenge to an in-form Randhawa, the answer has been Delhi-based Ghei. But going by Randhawa's charge in the final stages, even Ghei sounded cautious.

`` I am happy with my concentration. I need to play well tomorrow as well, especially with Jyoti being in fine touch, '' said Ghei, who had no bogey on Thursday.

The outward nine belonged to Ghei as he had a firm grasp with a three-stroke lead over Randhawa by the eighth hole. After missing a birdie on the ninth, he was 13-under at turn.

Randhawa, who started the day at nine-under, reduced the deficit by one stroke at the turn with a birdie. Though, Randhawa was 11- under after the ninth, he could have been better placed, had he not missed an eight-foot eagle putt on the same hole.

Vishal, who was in same group as Ghei and Randhawa, dropped out of the race as he failed to get into groove after two early bogeys.

One area where Randhawa looked shaky was his putting. The 28-year old had messed up a 12-foot eagle putt on the sixth hole earlier and the problem with his short game continued in the back nine too.

For Ghei, his driving was troublesome for a brief period (on the 10th, the 12th and the 13th holes) but on all occasions he salvaged a par. On the other hand, Randhawa met regulations consistently but failed to go beyond par himself.

A bogey on the par-5 14th hole by Randhawa, in hindsight, proved beneficial as he turned aggressive. A strong tee off in the next hole found him in bunker. It was followed by a fine chip which touched the pin and left him with an easy birdie-putt.

Even as Ghei stayed at 13-under on the next three holes, Randhawa kept the scorers busy. A bogey on the par-3 16th and birdie on the 17th pushed him to 11-under once again.

An immaculate approach shot helped Randhawa an eagle on par-5 18th hole, while, Ghei's chip from more than 20-yards followed by a short putt enabled him to stay ahead.

lThe scores : Gaurav Ghei (66, 68, 68) 202; Jyoti Randhawa (65, 70, 68) 203; Arjun Atwal (71, 68, 68), Vishal Singh (68, 68, 71) 207; Harmeet Kahlon (66, 75, 71) 212; S. S. P. Chowrasia (74, 69, 70) 213; Vijay Kumar (73, 75, 67), Pappan (73, 73, 69), Rafiq Ali (70, 71, 74) 215; Sanjay Kumar (75, 70, 71), Shiv Prakash (71, 73, 72) 216; Basad Ali (71, 74, 72) 217.

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