Gaurav Ghei wins HT ProGolf 2000

Gaurav Ghei reaped rich reward for his consistency when he won the inaugural HT ProGolf 2000 title by a huge margin of seven strokes after submitting his fourth successive card in the 60s on the final day at the Arnold Palmer-designed DLF Golf & Country Club course on Friday.

Ghei shot his third successive round of four-under 68 in the Rs 800,000 tournament to aggregate a stunning 18-under 270.

In fact, he played the last 53 holes without a bogey, his last coming on the first hole of the second round.

The victory was Ghei's first in the 2000-2001 Wills Sport Golf Tour season and came after he notched up two runner-up and one third place finish in the previous tournaments. It was worth Rs 1,29,600 for the India Cement-sponsored pro.

Ghei's brilliant display also shattered Jyoti Randhawa's brilliant run and the twice Hero Honda Masters champion had to be satisfied with the runner-up place after an unchracteristically patchy round of two-over 74 on Friday, which gave him a four-day tally of 11-under 277. Randhawa effort fetched him Rs 89,600.

Calcutta's Arjun Atwal was third at ten-under 278 (Rs 50,400) after playing a one-under 71 round today, while Vishal Singh of Jaipur took the fourth place at nine-under 279 (Rs 40,800) following his level-par round. Harmeet Kahlon was fifth at six-under 282.

Three time Order of Merit winner on the Wills Sport Golf Tour, Vijay Kumar took the sixth place at three-under 285.

The HT ProGolf 2000 is sponsored by The Hindustan Times. The event will finish on Saturday with a pro-am.

Beginning the day just one stroke ahead of the pre-tournament favourite Randhawa, Ghei played another error-free round. The Delhi-based golfer birdied the second hole and had opened up a four-stroke gap when Randhawa bogied the third and fifth. A birdie by Randhawa brought down the difference between the two, but Ghei birdied the eighth and ninth holes and led by five strokes at the turn.

A fortnight ago, at the Hero Golf Chandigarh Open, Ghei had squandered a similar lead with just five holes to play. But he was rock-steady today and parred all the holes coming back before finishing off in style with a 30-footer birdie putt on the final hole.

"I had lost my concentration in Chandigarh. I kept my focus intact throughout the day today. I played safe and sensible golf and took it hole-by-hole," said Ghei whose last victory was at the Wills Masters in Calcutta in February this year.

After making the turn at one-over, Randhawa birdied the 10th, but could do nothing of note thereafter and made bogies on the 11th and 18th holes to finish at two-over 74.

"My putting let me down completely over the last three days. I was unable to judge the speed of the greens. After I come back from the Lexus Open next week, I am going to spend my time practising on the greens here," said Randhawa who was looking for his third successive title on the Indian Tour after winning the Xerox Open and Honda Siel-Nike PGA Championship and is now preparing for a unique hat-trick of Hero Honda Masters title when the Asian PGA Tour event starts at this very course from November 2.

Atwal played the entire round with a stiff neck but still managed a sub-par score and beat Vishal Singh to third place. He parred all the front nine holes except the fifth where he made a double bogey after his tee shot got stuck to the left OB wall. On the back nine, he birdied the 10th, 13th and 14th to finish at one-under 71.

"My neck was my undoing today, otherwise I played pretty well," said Atwal who has finished in the top-10 in last three Asian PGA Tour events.

SCORES (after 72 holes): 270 _ Gaurav Ghei (66,68,68,68); 277 _ Jyoti Randhawa (65,70,68,74); 278 _ Arjun Atwal (71,68,68,71); 279 _ Vishal Singh (68,68,71,72); 282 _ Harmeet Kahlon (66,75,71,70); 285 _ Vijay Kumar (73,75,67,70); 286 _ Rafiq Ali (70,71,74,71); 288 _ Rohtas Singh (77,70,72,69), Sanjay Kumar (73,70,71,72); 289 _ Shiv Shankar Prakash Chowrasia (74,69,70,76); 291 _ Basad Ali (71,74,72,74); 292 _ Indrajit Bhalotia (71,77,71,73), Shiv Prakash (71,73,72,76); 293 _ Uttam Singh Mundy (75,73,72,73), Pappan (73,73,69)