Golf
AAMBY VALLEY: He came, in his own words, “to enjoy”. He played, “just to have fun”.
In the end, he conquered, leaving home beaming with a $63,400 cheque, and the glittering Aamby Valley Asian Masters trophy. South Africa’s Hendrik Buhrmann, overnight joint leader with Simon Hurd of England and India’s Ashok Kumar entering into the final day’s play, stayed steady till the end to finish with a score of 11-under-par 277.
Hurd was one-over for the day with a card of nine-under-par 279 to take the second spot. Australia’s Terry Pilkadaris, one of the pre-tournament favourites, recovered well to finish third at eight-under 280, three strokes ahead of compatriot Marcos Both, who totalled 283.
But there was heartbreak for India’s lone hope Ashok, who faltered when it mattered, to end with a poor four-under 284, to be tied fourth with three others.
The saddest part of it all was missing the card for the Asian Tour, which had been his single-point agenda. Now, he will have to go all over the qualifying school again.
It was a topsy-turvy day for the caddie-turned-pro from Bihar, who began the day at 10-under. A double bogey on the second hole saw him drop two shots, but he recovered remarkably with a birdie on the fourth and then two more on the seventh and eighth to regain the lead.
Two more bogeys on the 12th and 13th saw him slide again, but he still remained in contention, thanks to three dropped shots each by Hurd and Buhrmann. But just when he needed to hold his head steady, his nerves gave away. A double bogey on the 16th virtually ruled him out of title contention. He could not get over that shock, and followed it up with another dropped shot on the 17th and signed off with a double bogey to bring a sad end to a fine start.
He looked a pale shadow of his confident self after it was all over.
“I don’t know what happened. Nothing went right for me today. I don’t have anybody to blame but me. The double bogey (on the 16th) was inexcusable. I will sit back and think what went wrong,” he said.
3 Indians disqualified
Indian players Jumman, DS Raghuvanshi and Binod Pandey were disqualified from the Aamby Valley Asian Masters for submitting false scores.
The trio, who were in the same group, allegedly connived together and fudged their scores.
The incident came to light after some other Indian players complained to the Asian Tour’s disciplinary committee after the second round play on Friday, saying the said players were not capable of making the cut.
The committee held a provisional hearing on Saturday and decided to disqualify them.
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