Arjun sights Chandigarh Open title

Arjun Singh looked all set to annex the second title in his last three appearances on the Indian Tour, when he extended his overnight four-stroke lead by two to finish the day at 11-under 205 after the penultimate round of the Rs. One million Hero Golf 2001 Chandigarh Open on Friday.

The tournament is the seventh leg of the Hero Honda Golf Tour 2001-02 and is being played at par-72, 7052 yard Chandigarh Golf Club.

Local golfer Rajiv Kumar retained his overnight second position with a tally of five-under, 211. Rajiv’s citymate Harmeet Kahlon was tied third with Calcutta's Basad Ali and amateur golfer, Chandigarh's Gurbaaz Mann at four-under 212. K S Sibia, yet another local pro, was placed fifth at three-under 213 while the tour's top ranked golfer Mhow ‘s Mukesh Kumar occupied the sixth position at two-under 214.

Thrice winner and defending champion Amritinder Singh saw his dreams of returning a fourth straight win and suffered a severe blow when he slipped to tied-22nd spot with a tally of 221. Amritinder played to 75 on Friday.

There was not one occasion on Friday when Arjun Singh looked out of control. The Delhi Golf Club pro played sensible yet aggressive golf, finishing the day with a not-too-jazzy yet effective one-under 71.

"I decided at the start of the day that I would carry on with my game plan. So I used the driver a lot and attacked the course pretty much like I did on the first two days," he said. However, though I made a lot of regulations like yesterday, I didn’t hit it as close. This affected my putting, else I would have played to four or five under," he said. Arjun returned 32 putts for his round.

"The best thing about playing in Chandigarh is the golf course each year, it seems to get better. I am told the 1st and the 10th greens have been re-laid and the other 16 spruced up. They are playing really true which is truly great for the tournament, he added. Arjun’s last win in the Indian Golf Tour came at the Indian Masters at the Army Golf Course, Delhi.

"I was out of golf for a year due to a back injury and during that period underwent a lot of rehabilitation work. This strengthened me physically and I feel that has made a world of difference to my game. I am much longer off the tees now," concluded the 31-year-old.

Arjun started the day steadily, parring all the holes on his front-nine. Birdies on the 11th and 13th sandwiched of two bogeys on the 12th.

"I hit a bad tee shot," he said, with reference to his first bogey. Another bogey on the 16th preceded his third birdie on the 17th.

Rajiv Kumar, who along with K S Sibia, was more responsible for the large crowd following the leader-group than Arjun’s presence, had a rather inauspicious start to his round. I three-putted the very first hole of the day and that put me off," he said. "However, the bogey on the 6th was even more demoralizing," added the golfer who missed a simple two feet putt on that hole.

Two-over at the half-way stage, the 22-year old recovered well with birdies on the 10th, 11th and 13th. He then missed a five-feet birdie on the 14th which was followed by a bogey on the following hole 15th where he found the green-side bunker.

"The 14th was the turning point. Had I birdied that hole, the deficit between Arjun and me would have reduced to two-strokes. Finishing his round pretty much as he started it, with a bogey contributed his returning a card of one-over 73.

"This is golf. Anything can happen here. I am still hopeful of causing an upset," he added the youngster with a touch of optimism.

Mann displaces Virk from amateur lead: Gurbaaz Mann, considered one of the longest hitters in the country today, brought in the day’s best card with his five-under 67 placing him at four-under 212, three strokes ahead of second placed Girish Virk. Vikramjit Singh was placed third at 224.

Scores (after 52 holes): 205 _ Arjun Singh (65,69,71); 211 _ Rajiv Kumar (71,67,73); 212 _ Harmeet Kahlon (70,72,70); Basad Ali (74,67,71); 213 _ K S Sibia (67,72,74); 214 _ Mukesh Kumar (72,72,70); 215 _ Ranjit Singh (74,72,69); Amandeep Johl (72,70,73); 216 _ Gaurav Ghei (75,73,68), Yusuf Ali (73,70,73); 217 _ Rohtas Singh (72,74,71), Vinod Kumar (70,75,72), Rahil Gangjee (72,70,75), Pappan (69,71,77) .

Amateurs: 212 _ Gurbaaz Mann (73,72,67); 215 _ Girish Virk (70,73,72); 223 _ Vikramjjit Singh (77,69,77).