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Feroz Ali wins Color Plus golf

Twenty-nine-year-old Feroz Ali of Calcutta beat back a strong challenge from Amritinder Singh of Chandigarh to annex the Color Plus Open Golf championship, via a sudden-death play off at the end of the fourth and final round at the Madras Gymkhana Club golf links today.

In a fitting end to the 7.5 lakh prize-money event, Feroz Ali, who was joint fourth yesterday, returned with a superb card of four under par 66 to tie with overnight joint leader Amritinder Singh with a four round total of 276. Amritinder Singh carded one over 71 today.

Amritinder could have wrapped up the issue on the 18th hole itself had he birdied it. But his down the hill putt from the edge of the green just went right to the cup forcing a two way tie between him and Feroz Ali.

And when it came to the crunch, the experience of Feroz, who turned pro in 1984, stood pronounced as he sunk an unbelievable 20 foot putt from the left of the green in the first hole play-off for a birdie to win his 18th title on the Wills Golf Tour.

Infact, a three-way tie was on the cards, but the experienced Calcutta pro Basad Ali (who held the lead with Amritinder yesterday) dropped a shot on the 18th hole to finish fourth ahead of Kanpur's Shiv Prakash. Though both Basad and Shiv Prakash tied with a four-round gross of 277, Shiv Prakash, with a better round on the final day (one under par 69) as against Basad's (two over par 720, finished third.

It was sweet news for local golfer B Gurunath Meiyappan as he lifted the amateurs' title with a four round tally of 298, way ahead of S Radhakrishnan, who tallied 310.

UNI