Golf: Gupta pips Rashid for title

Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta edged past Delhi’s Rashid Khan in a play-off to win the CG Open 2012 at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club (BPGC) here on Saturday.

Gupta and Khan ended the regulation 72 holes equally at 13-under-267. Gupta (65-66-70-66) found the green on the par-five fourth hole in two shots to set up his first birdie of the day. His birdie on the ninth and 10th gave him the sole lead. It was a two-horse race from then on between Gupta and Rashid (69-65-66-67).

While Gupta went on to birdie the 16th, Rashid garnered the same on the 16th and 17th to go one stroke ahead. But Gupta made a magnificent eagle on the 18th to regain the lead. Rashid also birdied the 18th to force a play-off.

Rashid missed a birdie on the first play-off hole, while Gupta hit one to win his sixth professional title.

Gupta has now climbed to number one on the Rolex rankings this year.


Final results
-13: Harendra Gupta (65 66 70 66); Rashid Khan (69 65 66 67); -9: SSP Chowrasia (68 67 68 68); -6: Shankar Das (70 66 69 69); -5: Ajeetesh Sandhu (68 69 67 71), Abhinav Lohan (67 66 71 71), Shamim Khan (65 68 66 76); -4: Divyanshu Bajaj (70 68 72 66), Abhijit Singh Chadha (71 67 68 70), Mithun Perera (69 69 66 72); -3: Saurabh Bhaduri (71 69 68 69), MD Islam (66 70 71 70), Digvijay Singh (70 68 70 69)