Arjun closes gap on Randhawa

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 5. Arjun Singh shot the best card of the day, a four- under 68, but Jyoti Randhawa held onto his lead in the SRF Open championship at the Delhi Golf Club course here on Thursday.

At the end of the third round, Randhawa, on 205, was just two strokes ahead of Arjun, having managed only a one-under on Thursday. Randhawa wandered into the bushes early on, resulting in a double bogey on the first hole. A string of eight pars followed, but a birdie on the 10th and a birdie-birdie finish helped him stay ahead. His putting went awry this day as he missed at least five birdies by inches.

Having started the day five shots behind Randhawa, Arjun Singh, despite taking a couple of drop shots, did remarkably well to compile a card which included five birdies. A lone bogey, on the par-5 14th, prevented a much better finish that could have been visualised at one stage for this young Delhi pro.

Kanpur pro Shiv Prakash leapfrogged the leaderboard to join the leading group upstaging Sanjay Kumar (210). Prakash matched Arjun Singh with a 68 while Sanjay Kumar's 71 pushed him to the second group comprising amateur Ashok Kumar and Mukesh Kumar, on four- under 212.

The race for the oldest pro trophy got keener when Randhawa dropped two shots on the par-5 first. He went into the right rough and after taking a drop, a mishit took him into the left jungle. ``I tried to cut it with 2-iron but hit a tree. Though I lost two shots, it didn't bother me a lot but my tempo went off and I missed a lot of putts,'' Randhawa said later.

Randhawa kept his cool, however, on the front nine as he parred all the holes, but allowed Arjun Singh to tie with him. Arjun had three birdies, on the third, eighth and ninth, as he threatened to unsettle the leader. Randhawa came up with a crucial birdie on the par-4 10th as did Arjun and the two walked on level scores till the 13th.

``I got it (the putting) back. I hung on to it and played the best in the following holes on the inward stretch,'' Randhawa said. Randhawa made the best of the opportunity when Arjun Singh got into the rough and had to take a drop on the 14th. A bogey for Arjun and a par for Randhawa separated the two again.

On the tough 16th, Randhawa hit a swirling shot to avoid the tree on the straight line. ``I hit a vicious cut and the banana curve helped me to get out of trouble.'' Both Randhawa and Arjun, however, parred the hole.

Randhawa's class was on display when on the par-3 17th he made a birdie, putting from eight feet. And on the 18th, another birdie from Randhawa was an expected one. He did not disappoint as also Arjun Singh.

Two-time Indian Open winner Ali Sher recovered a little from his Wednesday's 74, carding a 71, but Vijay Kumar's woes continued as he shot a one-over 73. Vijay Kumar was on joint 14th spot with three others and his chances of retaining the Order of Merit award on the Wills Indian Golf Tour for this season has become tougher. Though Vijay currently leads the Order of Merit, Mukesh Kumar, the second on the list, has so far done well to be in the top five position in this tournament.

lThe scores:Jyoti Randhawa (69, 65, 71) 205; Arjun Singh (73, 66, 68) 207; Shiv Prakash (72, 70, 68) and Sanjay Kumar (71, 68, 71) 210; Ashok Kumar (A) (70, 71, 71) and Mukesh Kumar (72, 68, 72) 212; Amritinder Singh (71, 74, 69), Ali Sher (69, 74, 71) and Uttam Singh Mundy (72, 69, 73) 214; Ranjit Singh (70, 76, 69), Ramesh Kumar (71, 74, 70), Yusuf Ali (70, 72, 73) and S.S. P. Chaurasia (71, 70, 74) 215; Amandeep Johl (70, 75, 71), Vijay Kumar (76, 67, 73), Vishal Singh (71, 72, 73) and Rafiq Ali (73, 67, 76) 216.

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