Vinod Kumar saves best for last, wins

Delhi's Vinod Kumar saved his best for the last. He fired a bogey-free two-under-70 at the Aamby Valley Golf Course on Friday to win the PGTI Players Championship by one stroke. Vinod finished with a tournament total of nine-under-279. Arshdeep Tiwana of the Golden Greens Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon and Chandigarh's Harendra Gupta shared the second place at eight-under-280.

Vinod Kumar (70-69-70-70) started the final round in tied second place and soon established himself as a main contender for the title. He made a phenomenal par-save on the par-5 third hole where he first found the fairway bunker and then the hazard. The 32-year-old recovered well on the third with a brilliant chip from behind the bunker that landed a couple of feet of the flag.

Vinod made his move up the leaderboard with a 20-feet birdie putt conversion on the sixth. The professional from the Delhi Golf Club earned his second birdie of the day on the 13th where his well-directed approach shot landed six feet from the hole. However, Vinod was disappointed to miss birdie putts from five feet on the 12th and 14th. Vinod did well to make par on the par-3 15th which had the day's toughest pin position. Shamim Khan had stumbled to an eight (five-over) on the 15th after hitting it out of bounds twice and then finding the hazard. Shamim's title hopes were dashed on the 15th. Harendra Gupta also dropped a bogey on the same hole. Vinod saved par in a pressure situation once again when he sank a 15 feet putt on the 16th. He went on to make pars on the last two holes as well seal his second title on the PGTI. His win at the Rs 40 lakh event made him richer by Rs 6,46,600 and took him from 22nd to 11th position on the 2012 Rankings.

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