Hyundai Open all set for exciting finish

It will be youth versus experience when the final day's play of the Rs.550,000 Hyundai MGC Open commences at the par-70, 6,667 yard Madras Gymkhana Club golf course in Madras on Saturday.

Veteran Rohtas Singh of Delhi and his city-mate, youngster Zai Kipgen, less than half the former's age finished the day tied atop the leader board at a three-day aggregate of six-under 204. Rohtas,45, returned the day's best card of two-under 68 while Zai, 22, scored one-under 69 for the day. The tournament is the fourth leg of the 2001-02 season's Hero Honda Golf Tour.

The dangerous duo of opening round leader Chandigarh's Amritinder Singh and Mhow's Mukesh Kumar were tied-third just one stroke behind the leaders at five-under 205, while Kanpur's Shiv Prakash occupied the fifth spot at three-under 207. SSP Chowrasia of Calcutta was placed sixth at 208 while overnight joint-leader Rajesh Choudhary sat at seventh spot at 209.

Rohtas Singh has pleasant memories of Chennai. "This is like my second home," he said.

Despite an unimpressive start to his round with a pared first hole followed by successive bogies on the second and third and another on the fifth, Rohtas regained his composure as only an experienced war-horse can do, to finish his front-nine at level-par. He was aided by a hat-trick of birdies on the sixth, seventh and eighth.

"I chipped in on the sixth and despite my earlier bogies my feel came right back" he said. In an error free back-nine, Rohtas birdied the 12th, 14th and 18th.

"It was a good come back. Just the type of recovery that leaves one in the right mental frame going into the final round," said the Delhi Golf Club pro.

"The golf course is playing superb and the greens are just tailor-made for my style of putting," he concluded.

Rohtas whose last tournament victory came at this very city at the TNGF Open in December 2000, was optimistic when queried about tomorrow's round. 'No matter who he is tied with Rohtas Singh will win," he said.

Zai Kipgen is finally showing signs of fulfilling the promise that gave him the tag of the most promising youngster in the country. On Friday, his round was a veritable roller-coaster ride. Making a birdie-par-birdie start to his round. Zai looked all set to better his first round 65, but three successive bogies on the fourth, fifth and sixth pushed him on to the back foot. A bogey on the seventh followed by a birdie on the eighth placed him at one-over at the halfway stage. On his return journey, Zai recovered well with a birdie on the 13th and a well made eagle on the par-5 12th but a bogey on the 15th prevented him from taking possession of the sole lead.

"I am not too disappointed with my round today. I drove the ball reasonably well and putted well too. However, I made some mental errors which I cannot afford to repeat if I have to win tomorrow," he said.

Amritinder Singh, after a brilliant opening round 66 has struggled on the greens.

"My putting has been deplorable. I have missed too many short putts in the last two days," lamented the 29-year-old.

"I know I am in with a fair chance to win tomorrow but I need to really work on my putting," said the golfer whose last outing at the MGC resulted in a play-off loss to Feroz Ali at the Color Plus Open 1999.

"More so reason why I should win tomorrow," he said. Amritinder returned a one-under 69 today.

Mukesh Kumar though India’s top ranked player for the past two seasons has mostly languished in the back ground this year. Today, the 31-year-old pro, birdied the first, third and seventh while his dropped shots came on the fifth, sixth, 16th and 17th.

"I had a bad back-nine or else I would have been in the lead," he said after returning a one-over 71 today. "Anyway, one stroke is hardly anything and I promise I will be back with a bang tomorrow," he said.

Yudhvir grabs amateur lead: CV Yudhvir returned a level-par 70 to lead the amateur field by two-stroke over second ranked Gurunath Meiyappan. Yudhvir’s tally stood at nine-over 219 while Meiyappan aggregated 221.

SCORES (after 34 holes): 204_ Rohtas Singh (67,69,68), Zai Kipgen (65,70,69), 205_Amritinder Singh(64,72,69), Mukesh Kumar(67,67,71);207_Shiv Prakash (68,66,73); 208_Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (66,70,72);209 _Rajesh Choudhary (69,65,75); 210_Basad Ali (69,69,72),Feroz Ali (69,68,73);212_Rafiq Ali(70,72,70),Bhoop Singh(69,69,74);213_Mohd. Maqbool (75,68,70), Sanjay Kumar (74,69,70),Ravi Preet Sidhu(69,69,75).

Amateurs: 219_CV Yudhvir(74,75,70);221_Gurunath Meyappan(74,73,74);22_Aditya Kantikar(75,73,74),Scahin Nigade(75,68,79)

Earlier report:
Rajesh Chowdhary leads Hyundai-MGC Open