Randhawa stakes claim for The Open berth

Randhawa stakes claim for The Open berth
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

ST ANDREWS (Scotland), July 17: A sparkling round of three-under-par 68 by Indian champion Jyoti Randhawa took him closer to the British Open Golf Championship as he led the Asian PGA Tour players at the final qualifying round.

The 28-year-old talented Randhawa battled bravely on the Scotscraig Course at the Open's final qualifying round to place himself joint seventh among the 480 aspirants bidding for an estimated 50 Open slots.

Randhawa, who won the Wills Indian Open in March, employed an `intelligent game' to bounce back from a subdued front nine with four birdies on his homeward journey to make a confident march towards reaching the famed St Andrews course.

The prestigious British Open will be played at the old course here from July 20 to 23.

Randhawa wore his favourite St Andrews Old Course sweater and is primed for a prized slot at the Millennium Open at the `home of golf', but other Indians -- Gaurav Ghei and Amandeep Johl -- will need to shoot low rounds at Lundin Links and Leven respectively if they hope to have a chance.

Ghei had made it to the Open main draw in 1997 at Royaltron in Birkdale, but he has good memories of this year's course where he vanquished Colin Montogomerie of Scotland in the 1996 Alfred Dunhill Cup in India's upset win.

A resurgent Ghei birdied two of his last four holes for a round of 70 but he is three shots outside the top 11, which will grant spots for the Open. Johl is four behind the current cut-off mark.

Arjun Atwal, amongst a group of five Indian players in the Johnnie Walker-sponsored `Asian Invasion' of the British Open, got off the blacks in style when he made the turn at Levin Links with three-under-par which was highlighted by an eagle three at the par five sixth hole.

The demands of Links course and several unlucky breaks, including a lost ball at the knee-height 16th rough, eventually left Atwal scrambling home with a two-over par 73.

But in Randhawa, India's flag will be in safe hands as he is enjoying a good run of form this season. Apart from his Indian Open win, he finished runner-up in the Volvo China Open and has missed only one cut all year on the Asian PGA circuit.

He mixed up a bogey and birdie at the third and fourth holes and got unlucky when a nine iron from the bunker hit the lip and fell back into the sand trap and he settled for his second bogey of the day.

But Randhawa came back strongly with birdies at the 10th, 12th, where he chipped in from 25 yards, 14th and 16th for his round of 68.

``I'm not striking the ball particularly well but I played intelligently throughout the round. I'll probably need another 68 to confirm a spot at St Andrews and I will be aggressive for the second round and take my chances with the game plan.

``Par golf will not be good enough and I'll have to go for it. The incentive is so great because it'll mean heading to St. Andrews,'' Randhawa said.

Fellow pro Digvijay Singh is caddying for Randhawa and the latter believes they make a formidable pair. ``We worked well together and he helped keep me on an even keel today.''

Ghei made two crucial mistakes in his round as he made the turn at one-under with a birdie at the ninth.

He three-putted from 20 feet and 40 feet at the 11th and 13th respectively but had back-to-back birdies soon after, with an approach to the 16th hitting the flagstick and dropping to just three feet of the hole.

``I played solidly but messed up two holes. The bogey at the par five 13th is really disappointing because it was a birdie hole and was down wind as well. But I finished strongly to give myself a chance on Tuesday. I will probably need a 67 to get in,'' Ghei said.

APGA Order of Merit leader Yeh Wei-Tze of Taiwan and Thailand's Thong Chai Jaidee also marched towards their Open dreams with impressive starts of the two-day final qualifiers.

Baby-faced Yeh, with fiancee Tsai Yu-Ju caddying, reproduced the winning form that led him to the Malaysian Open title in February when he carded a bogey-free, four-under-par 67 at Leven Links.

Yeh's opening score was made the more impressive as he toured the links course in a blind round. He did not have a practice session at Leven due to his late arrival from the European Tour event at Loch Lomond on Saturday night and guessed his way around.

His opening effort pushed him to joint 10th position while Jaidee, who had an impressive rookie season last year on the APGA Tour, launched his charge with a 69 at Scotscraig to place himself joint ninth and is 18 holes away from emulating compatriot Prayad Marksaeng by playing at the Open.

With 11 prized spots available at the four final qualifying venues each, Randhawa, Yeh and Thong Chai are all poised to join Kyi Hla Han of Myanmar -- Asia's best player last season -- at the Millennium Open.

The veteran Burmese has received direct entry into the Open following his 1999 Order of Merit triumph.

There is a strong presence of Asian PGA players in the fray at the final qualifying.

Venezuelan Gilberto Morales, who qualified for Carnoustie last year, carded a 71 at Ladybank; Rob Huxtable of the United States signed a 68 at Leven Links; South African Craig Kamps fired a 69 to tie Jaidee while American Aaron Meeks and Simon Dyson of England shot 70 and 71 respectively at Scotscraig.

At Lundin, American John Kernohan, who had made to Royal Troon in 1997, kept himself in the hunt. Kernohan opened with a 68 to lie in tied 12th spot giving himself a chance of a second Open appearance.

First round scores for Asian PGA players at the British Open final qualifying:

Ladybank: 71 Gilberto Morales (Ven), 72 Grant Dodd, 73 Kim Felton (Aus), 75 Mardan Mamat (Sin), 76 Scott Taylor (US), 78 James Kingston (RSA).

Leven Links: 67 Yeh Wei-Tze (Twn), 68 Rob Huxtable (US), 71 Amandeep Johl (Ind), 73 Arjun Atwal (Ind).

Lundin Links: 68 John Kernohan (US), 69 Des Terblanche (RSA), 70 Gaurav Ghei (Ind), Nico Van Rensburg (RSA), 73 Ed Fryatt (US), 76 Taku Yamanaka (Jpn), 75 Hendrik Buhrmann (RSA)

Scotscraig: 68 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), 69 Craig Kamps (RSA) Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), 70 Aaron Meeks (US), 71 Simon Dyson (Eng), 75 Rafael Ponce (ECU), Indrajit Bhalotia (Ind).