Top Indian golfers in battle of mathematics

Vijay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar, the top two golfers in the country, arrive at the Garden City of Bangalore with everything but a holiday on their minds. The two have but one goal in perspective as they get down to preparing for the 550,000 'Leela Palace–BGC Open' -- the 'Mahindra Champion Golfer of the Year' award, worth a staggering Rs 850,000.

Vijay Kumar currently leads the rankings (which determine the award winner) as well as the Order of Merit. Mukesh Kumar is trailing by a very narrow margin and a win in Bangalore will most definitely guarantee either of them both the Order of Merit (OOM) title and the coveted award.

The ‘Mahindra Champion Golfer of the Year’ award is determined by points a player earns through the season. The golfer who procures the maximum number of points bags the award. Vijay Kumar has had an eventful season, starting with a win at the lung-opening Cosmo-Hindu Open. The Lucknow-based golfer followed this up with three more wins, two on Bangladeshi turf at the Bhatiary Open Pro-Am, Chittagong, and the Dutch-Bangla Bank Bangladesh Open, Dhaka sandwiching a win at the HT Pro-Golf East India Open, Patna. Overall, the stocky golfer has earned Rs 12,32,658 in prize-money while his points tally stands at 292.70.

Mukesh Kumar has a slightly better record than Vijay’s having never missed a cut in 21 appearances. However, last season's Champion Golfer of the Year has one victory less than Vijay's. Mukesh's triumphs this season came at the ONGC-NGC Open, Noida, the Surya Nepal Masters Kathmandu and the BPGC Open, Mumbai. The Mhow-based golfer’s earnings stand at a healthy Rs 12,11,585 and points tally at 280.50.

Vijay Kumar is currently Rs 21,083 ahead of Mukesh in the money tally and 12.20 points ahead in the points tally. A victory in Bangalore for Vijay would leave the equation unchanged in his favour. In fact, all Vijay needs is a better finish than Mukesh to make his own the OOM and the Mahindra award.

A victory for Mukesh would earn him Rs 89,100 and even if Vijay were to clinch the second place cheque of Rs 61,600, the Mhow based golfer would have more than erased the Rs 21,083 deficit and would comfortably win the Order of Merit. In addition to this, a win would be Mukesh’s fourth of the season which would earn him 60 bonus points. This, coupled with the 20 points awarded to a win in tournaments other than Majors, would push him way beyond Vijay's tally even if the latter were to finish second.

If Mukesh were to finish second and Vijay third, the former would comfortably win the OOM courtesy a Rs 5,877 difference in prize-money. Given that Mukesh finishes third (Rs 34,650), Vijay cannot afford to finish below eighth spot where he is assured of a cheque of Rs 14,200. If Mukesh finishes fourth (28,050), Vijay can afford a 22nd place (Rs 7,095) or higher finish.

A fifth place finish (Rs 22,550) for Mukesh and Vijay can afford to settle for anything above 44th place. If Mukesh finishes sixth (Rs 19,800) or below, Vijay can even afford to miss the cut to win the OOM.

Coming to the points tally, Mukesh finishing second and Vijay third, would still favour Vijay as Mukesh would earn 15 points and Vijay 13. The difference in points would come down to 10.20 in favour of Vijay. With the points awarded to the top 15 positions decreasing by one from the third to the 15th positions, Mukesh would have to finish so many spots ahead of Vijay if he is to deny the Lucknowite of his pound of flesh.

In other words, a scenario which affords a second place finish to Mukesh and a 13th place finish to Vijay would witness a tie in the points tally. Vijay, therefore, can afford to finish anywhere upto the 12th spot and still not worry while Mukesh has to finish second assuming that he dosen’t win and bank on Vijay’s finishing 14th or lower. A third place finish for Mukesh will in the worst situation, hand Vijay the award by a slender margin of half a point. In short, Mukesh cannot afford to finish lower than second if he has to have a chance of winning the award.