Ghei upsets Mundy's applecart

In a nerve-tingling, sea-saw final, Gaurav Ghei made a superb back-nine charge to wrap up his season's first win at the Rs One million Telegraph Open Golf championship 2002, played at the par-72 Royal Calcutta Golf Club course.

Ghei's final round score of three-under 69 handed him a tournament tally of three-under 285 and the winner's cheque of Rs 1,62,000.

Ghei's effort makes him the 11th winner on the Hero Honda Golf Tour's 2001-02 season.

The Telegraph Open Golf Championship marked the end of the 18th leg of the Tour.

Tied for the lead overnight, Uttam Singh Mundy and Digvijay Singh had to settle for the second and third positions respectively, with aggregates of one-under 287 and one-over 289.

Mundy, tied for the lead with Ghei till the 16th, was done in by a double bogey on his penultimate hole.

Delhi youngster Shamim Khan gave further evidence of his enormous talent with a fourth place finish at 294. The trio of Lucknow's Vijay Kumar and Kolkata's Feroz Ali and Indrajit Bhalotia finished tied-fifth at 295.

Delhi's Ali Sher, Kanpur's Shiv Prakash, Kolkata's Rafiq Ali and Mhow's Mukesh Kumar finished tied eighth at 296.

Gaurav's Ghei's remarkable win was strikingly similar to Indrajit Bhalotia's effort on the Hero Honda Golf Tour in December 2001. Bhalotia, in the HT Pro Golf 2001 - Kolkata, the only other Hero Honda Golf Tour event held in the City of Joy this season, pulled the rug from under the feet of Mukesh Kumar and Feroz Ali to wrap up his season's first win. That tournament was played at the Tollygunge Club.

"I am ecstatic," said Gaurav Ghei. "This win has returned all of my confidence," added the golfer, who was out of action form the Tour for a while after a hernia operation last year.

"It was a tough fight all along but though I was three strokes behind at the start of the day, I was playing to win," said the India Cements-sponsored golfer.

"Uttam and Digvijay are superb golfers. Errors can prove expensive when playing against them. I personally feel, I played an all-round game today, especially on my back-nine," he said.

Ghei got off to a good start with a par followed by a birdie on the 2nd. If a bogey on the following hole, where he missed a five feet return putt, pushed him on the back-foot, he more than made up with a superb birdie from the tank on the 8th.

"I feel the turning point was my putt on the 14th. That brought me on par with Uttam," said Ghei, referring to his superb 25-feet left to right birdie putt.

A birdie on the 15th later, Ghei found himself in the left hazard on the 16th. An excellent 5-iron shot helped him par the hole and Uttam's 17th hole folly sealed the match in his favour.

"The golf course has played great all week and I must congratulate the RCGC staff for providing such a superb facility," concluded the champion.

Uttam Mundy was a dejected man. "One hole, one mistake and it was all over," he said.

Indeed. Uttam's tee shot on the 17th placed his ball amid a sea of dry leaves left of the fairway, with three trees menacingly blocking his way to the green. A brilliant four-iron through a ten feet gap, to 10-yards from the green, seemed the have figuratively got him out of the woods. However, Mundy's chip carried him over the green finally, resulting in a double bogey.

"Gaurav was just brilliant. I feel the 14th hole was the turning point. Digvijay slipped early in the round and I knew Gaurav would prove to be the real threat. Had I not doubled the 17th, we might have gone into a play-off, but this is golf," said Mundy, who was richer by Rs 1,12,000.

The Eveready-sponsored Kolkatan played to two-over 74 with birdies on the 4th and 15th and bogeys on the 6th and 14th other than his double bogey on the 17th.

Khaitan wins amateur title: Aditya Khaitan returned a final round score of five-over 77 to post a resounding 21-stroke win in the amateur category. Khaitan's tournament aggregate stood at 314. Karan Sidhu and Anshuman Fogla finished tied second at 335 apiece.

SCORES (after 72 holes): 285_Gaurav Ghei(74,69,73,69); 287_Uttam Singh Mundy(72,70,71,74); 289_Digvijay Singh(73,70,70,76); 294_Shamim Khan(78,71,71,74); 295_Feroz Ali(69,75,77,74), Vijay Kumar(76,76,68,75), Indrajit Bhalotia(71,75,73,76); 296_Ali Sher(77,78,68,73), Shiv Prakash(71,75,76,74), Rafiq Ali(75,73,73,75), Mukesh Kumar(73,73,75,75); 297_SSP Chowrasia(76,70,75,76); 298_Basad Ali(78,71,74,75); 299_Rahul Ganapathy(75,78,69,77).

Amateurs: 314_Aditya Khaitan(77,80,80,77); 335_Karan Sidhu(80,87,84,84), Anshuman Fogla(85,81,84,85).

Day 3 report: Telegraph Open golf heading for thrilling finish
Day 2 report: Mundy cashes in on Feroz's erratic play
Day 1 report: Feroz Ali begins with a bang