Ashok poised for fourth straight win

Ashok Kumar gave himself a four-stroke cushion, thereby edging closer to his fourth straight win on the Amby Valley PGAI Tour, after he fired a third round 69 at the ONGC-Noida Open 2004, being played at the par-72, Noida Golf Course.

Ashok, who fired his tenth straight under-par score on the Amby Valley PGAI Tour today, has a three-day tournament tally of 13-under 203.

Bangalore lad S Madaiah made a mid-round come-back to fire a level-par 72 for the sole second position at nine-under 207, while Mukesh Kumar and Shiv Kapur (who joined Ashok on the final round leader-group for the second successive week) were tied-third at eight-under 208.  Both fired rounds of 68 today.

Ashok Kumar, who last week scored his third straight win on the 2004-2005 season when he clinched the Rs 10 lakh (one million) HT Pro Golf 2004 title, surprisingly was far from happy with his showing. Nothing, not even the incentive of increasing his earnings tally of Rs 5,47,000 by another 1,62,000 on Saturday could get a smile on his face. The reason for Ashok's disappointment lay in his driving.

"I hit the bal terribly today. Eight greens in regulation and that too three on par fives is all I could manage," rued the 23-year-old.

Any other golfer in his position would have ignored this fact and soaked in the pleasure of the tournament lead, but this is probably what separates a champion form the rest.

Ashok's round started well enough with a birdie. On his opening hole, it was surprisingly his driver that earned him the advantage of an easy approach shot and two putts for birdie. That was one of the par-fives Ashok hit in regulation. Then he went on to birdie the eighth but followed it up with a bogey on the ninth. Another bogey followed on the 11th to place the golfer at level-par on the 12th tee. Ashok then took stock of the situation and went on to birdie the 14th, 15th and 18th, where he chipped in from the edge of the green.

"The result does not matter. What matters is how I play. I want to win with every aspect of my game in place tomorrow," he concluded.

Madaiah's round reflected his mental strength. The Karnataka Golf Association pro who teed it up one stroke behind the leader would have definitely felt the pressure playing as he was for the first ever time in the leader-group. The 22-year-old began in style when he nearly eagled his opening hole. On that occasion, a driver five-wood combination placed him on the edge of the green. From there his 15-yard putt headed straight for the cup before limping out. On the following hole another putt, this time for birdie flirted with the cup only to deceive. 

"It was a bit disheartening but what was to follow was worse," said Madaiah. On the sixth he missed a five feet par putt to drop his first shot of the round. On the seventh and ninth, his errant driver placed him near the roots of trees lining the fairway leaving the golfer with no option but to chip out back onto the fairway. 

On both occasions he went on to play poor chip shots for bogey.

Two over on the tenth tee, Madaiah pared that hole but found another tree on the 11th to drop yet another shot. 

"This is when I told myself to calm down. I knew there were some easy birdie holes lying in wait ahead and that a score of level-par was possible," he said.

This is exactly what he did and starting with a superb 20-yard birdie putt on the 13th, Madhaiah went on to essay birdies on 14th an 17th to finish with a card of 72.

"If I get my driver going tomorrow, I have an excellent chance of winning," said the confident golfer.

Shiv Kapur's only complaint over the past three rounds, including the final round at the Classic Golf Resort was that he was unable to get off to a good start. This problem was addressed with aplomb today as the 22-year-old Delhi Golf Club pro opened his account with a hat-trick of birdies.

"The highlight of my round was third where I chipped in. It set the tone for the rest of the day," said a smiling Shiv. 

The Asian Games gold medallist went on to post another birdie on the fifth to make the turn at four-under. On his return journey, Shiv dropped a shot on the tenth where he missed up and down but made up with his fifth birdie of the day on the 17th.

Keshav assumes amateur lead:  Keshav Misra shot a two-over 74 to wrench the amateur lead from overnight leader Jasjeet. Keshav's tally stood at one-over 217 while Gagan Verma was placed second at 218.

Scores (after 54 holes): 203 Ashok Kumar(67,67,69); 207 S Madhaiah(69,66,72); 208 Mukesh Kumar(69,71,68), Shiv Kapur(68,72,68); 209 Digvijay Singh(69,72,68); 211 Sanjay Kumar(72,71,68), Ali Sher(70,69,72); 212 Harinder Gupta(72,72,68), Gurbaaz Mann(71,69,72); 213 Vijay Kumar(73,67,73) Amateurs: 217 Keshav Misra(76,67,74); 218 Gagan Verma(68,75,75); 221 Jasjeet Singh(74,67,80).