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Hardworker gets much deserved pay hike
Diligent Kahlon wins his 1st pro title
SHONA A SINGH
NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 17: ‘‘Harmeet
Kahlon has proved that dedication and hard work never go in
vain,’’ said Jeev Milkha Singh as his city mate won his first
professional tournament — the Hero Honda Masters which concluded
at the DLF Golf and Country Club this afternoon.
Kahlon’s dedication and persevarance has
got him a nickname — the Vijay Singh of the Indian tour. Like
the famous Fijian, Kahlon is known to spend long hours at
the practice range. He started the day at six-under for the
tournament and a one-under today. That meant his total of
71 was enough to claim the title and with Arjun Atwal and
Prayad Marksaeng faltering it only helped his cause.
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| Harmeet Khalon with the winner’s trophy
at the DLF Golf and Country Club |
Kahlon played solidly, with a birdie on
the first to move to seven-under. After six consecutive pars,
he bogeyed the eighth but soon made up with a birdie on the
ninth. He did the same on the 13th and 14th holes as he went
birdie-bogey mould on the 17th and 18th too. His birdie on
the 17th took his total to eight-under and gave him a one-stroke
lead over Prayad.
Kahlon went about his task meticulously,
unaware of his status on the leaderboard. Only when he reached
the 18th fairway, he realised that all he needed was a two-putt
to grab the winner’s cheque.
‘‘It is my first victory and it feels good.
Frankly speaking, it came sooner than I expected,’’ said the
Chandigarh pro who has been on a roll since the end of last
year. After a creditable fifth postion at the Volvo China
Open, he moved up to 58th on the Davidoff Order of Merit which
got him into the Hong Kong Open where he missed the cut to
finish 63rd for the year. Undettered, he went to the qualifying
school, finished in the top 15 and then teed it up at the
London Myanmar Open last week where he finished in the top
20.
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Rogue’s galleries?
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| IMPRESSIVE galleries followed the final
day’s action at the Hero Honda Masters this afternoon.
And, unlike the knowledgeable crowds at the Delhi Golf
Course, most of the people here were still discovering
the game and its rules and ettiquete after the children
had to be hushed numerous times. The elevated area surrounding
the 18th green served as a wonderful spectator hole. Luckily
Daniel hit a flier out of the right rough in his attempt
to hit it close. After the impact, he stood throwing his
hands up in the air, wondering where his ball was heading.
Fortunately for him and unfortunately for a spectator,
there was a dull thud and the ball was soon trickling
to a stop in the bunker. From there Daniel had no problems
chipping it out and making par! |
His chip on the last showed how he has matured
as a golfer during the last year on the Asian tour. A shot
that would earlier worry him was no problem today. ‘‘I had
practiced that shot with Donato in Italy during my coaching
sessions and knew exactly how to play it,’’ he later said.
Atwal, Prayad and Daniel Chopra were in
contention till the ninth holes but they ran into trouble
in the later half. The first one to relinquish the lead was
Daniel who dropped a stroke each on the 13th and 14th and
then double bogeyed the par-three 16th. Then Atwal, who dropped
a shot on the second but recovered with birdies on the third,
sixth, seventh and eight to tie for the lead at seven-under
at the turn, failed to capitalise on his position. He three-putted
the 16th and 18th holes to drop to five-under and eventually
finished sole third.
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Scorecard
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| 277—Harmeet Kahlon 69,68,70,70; 278 Prayad
Marksaeng (Thailand) 68,66,72,72, James Oh (South Korea)
73,68,72,65, Thammanoon Sriroj (Thailand) 72,69,70,67;
279—Steve Jurgensen (U.S.) 70,72,67,70, Arjun Atwal 65,74,70,70;
280—Vijay Kumar 71,64,71,74, Daniel Chopra (Sweden) 67,71,70,
72; 281—Chung Joon (South Korea) 70,70,72,69, Clay Devers
(U.S.) 69,70,72,70, Gaurav Ghei 68,71,69,73; 282—Thaworn
Wiratchant (Thailand) 73, 68,70,71, Tatsuhiko Takahashi
(Japan) 67,69,74,72, Craig Kamps (South Africa) 68,71,68,75;
283—Jeev Milkha Singh 68,65,76,74, Jyoti Randhawa 71,
69,71,72, Greg Hanrahan (U.S.) 73,71,69,70, Lam Chih Bing
(Singapore) 67,72, 72,72, Rodrigo Cuello (Philippines)
70,72,69,72. |
That left Prayad, who was one stroke behind
Harmeet, as the final group hit their drives and walked down
the 18th. He hit his drive in the left rough and after overnight
leader Vijay Kumar had hit the green with his second, Prayad
stood on the ball and hit a bad shot. However, he still had
a clear line for his chip which he left short to miss the
putt — a mistake that cost him a chance to get into a playoff
should Harmeet miss an up and down.
Jeev did not even come close to making
a charge today. ‘‘I’ve just been having bad weekends for a
while now,’’ said Jeev, whose halfway total of nine-under-par
was not achieved by any of the professionals over the weekend.
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