30th September 2006 - 01st October 2006

 GANGJEE HOLDS ON TO THE LEAD AT MERCURIES TAIWAN MASTERS

Taipei , September 30: India ’s Rahil Gangjee held on to the lead ahead of a charging Lin Wen-hong in the third round at the US$500,000 Mercuries Taiwan Masters on Saturday.

Gangjee stayed on top of the leaderboard as he was even-par for the day. He achieved a three-day total of eight-under-par 208 and was a stroke ahead of local favourite Wen-hong who was the biggest mover after a sizzling eight-under-par 64 at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club.

Lin Wen-tang, 32, fired a 67 and was one stroke behind his younger brother Wen-hong in joint third position alongside Korea ’s Ted Oh who was even-par. After two consecutive 69s, American Bryan Saltus, who is ranked 27th on the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit, slipped down the leaderboard to fifth spot when he shot a 73.

“I am happy and now I’m not as nervous going into the final round as before because my form has been steady for a while now,” said Gangjee, who finished third at the Brunei Open in August.

Gangjee struggled in the opening stages with two consecutive bogeys in the third and fourth holes. He bounced back with birdies at fifth and sixth holes but dropped another shot at the eighth hole. After a birdie at the 10th hole, Gangjee struck a wayward drive which led to a double bogey at the par four 12th hole.

“The 12th hole was terrible. I knew it was going right and into the trees. The ball was then unplayable as it was stuck between the roots of the trees,” said Gangjee, who closed in with a birdie on the 13th hole followed by a final birdie at the par four 18th holes.

“It wasn’t a really strong round but I had a good finish on the 18th hole. A solid second shot 68 yards from the pin left the ball close to the cup as I putted for birdie,” he added.

The winner of this year’s Mercuries Taiwan Masters will book their spot for the HSBC Champions tournament in November.

After a stunning 64, Wen-hong became the second player in the tournament to equal the course record. India ’s S.S.P Chowrasia, who was disqualified for not signing his scorecard on Friday, fired a similar score for the opening round lead. Chinese Taipei’s Yuan Ching-chi set the course record back in 1994.

Wen-hong, 27, enjoyed a good run in front of his home fans as he blasted birdies on the fifth and sixth holes followed by a five footer for eagle at the par five seventh hole. On the back nine, Wen-hong birdied the 14th and finished strongly with three consecutive birdies on the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes.

“This round has just been a confidence booster for me. Everything worked out as I was putting and driving on target,” said Wen-hong.

At the seventh hole, Wen-hong struck an accurate drive and his solid iron play was evident as his second shot landed five feet away from the pin for the eagle.

“The eagle was great and I had a massive 40 foot birdie putt at the 17th hole. I am striking the ball well and I hope to go for the top prize in the final round,” said Wen-hong.

With three birdies against an equal number of bogeys, Oh is enjoying his best run of form this season.

“I made some changes earlier on in the season and it backfired so I’ve decided to get back to my old game. I have been playing solid but I hit a couple of bad tee shots today which cost me but overall I’m quite pleased,” said Ted.

Defending champion Lu We-chih was in joint 11th spot as he struck a 71.

Leading third round scores
208 - Rahil Gangjee ( IND ) 66-70-72
209 - Lin Wen-hong (TPE) 72-73-64
210 - Lin Wen-tang (TPE) 72-71-67, Ted Oh (KOR) 70-68-72
211 - Bryan Saltus ( USA ) 69-69-73
212 - Gaurav Ghei (IND) 71-72-69, Yeh Wei-tze (TPE) 71-70-71, Chung Chun-hsing (TPE) 68-71-73
213 - Simon Nash (AUS) 69-72-72, Jason Knutzon ( USA ) 67-70-76
214 - Lu Wei-chih (TPE) 71-72-71, Hsieh Chin-sheng (TPE) 71-72-71, Adam Groom (AUS) 73-69-72, Adam Blyth (AUS) 66-75-73
215 - Chris Rodgers (ENG) 74-72-69, Yasin Ali (ENG) 72-73-70, Shiv Kapur (IND) 73-71-71, Amandeep Johl (IND) 72-71-72, Park Jun-won (KOR) 70-72-73, Lu Wen-teh (TPE) 74-68-73, Chang Tse-peng (TPE) 70-72-73
216 - Simon Hurd (ENG) 73-73-70, Rick Gibson (CAN) 71-70-75, Gavin Flint (AUS) 70-70-76  

MCDOWELL'S SIGNATURE CLUB GOLF GETS OFF TO A FLYING START

 

NEW DELHI, Sept 30: South India was witness to some hot golfing action as the Intra-club, (first round) of the McDowell's Signature Club Golf Championship got underway at four different venues today.

 

At Coimbatore, P.R. Ramakrishnan and V.R. Naren Kumar booked their place in the Coimbatore Golf Club team for the Southern Region final.   Ramakrishnan who tallied 29 stableford points emerged as the winner in the 0-8 category while Naren Kumar emerged as the runner-up with 26 stableford points. The duo was joined by N. Soundararajan and Sri Hariram (both with 36 points) who were the winner and runner-up respectively in the 9-16 handicap category. Soundararajan won on a count-back. In the 17-24 category R. Vijayakumhar and M.R. Chinnaswamy finished first and second with 35 and 34 points respectively.  

 

At the Bison Environment Park and Training Area, Bolaram, Ravinder Singh beat A Sridhar Reddy to the winner's post in the 0-8 handicap category with 28 points, one better than the runner-up's tally.  In the 9-16 handicap category, Lt.Col. A.K.Mishra triumphed with 40 points while Lt.Col. Ravi Shankar had to be satisfied with the second position and 39 points.  In the 17-24 handicap category, Wg. CDR R.C. Sawhney beat Ali Khushru Jungon a count-back after the two finished tied with 36 points each.  

 

Results at the Karnataka Golf Association course, Bangalore and the JC Wadiyar Golf Course, Mysore were still awaited.

 

The 5th edition of the McDowell's Signature Club Golf Championship, is being supported by indiatimes.com and Kingfisher Airlines. The magazine partner is Outlook Business and the event managers are Tiger Sports Marketing.

 

The events is being played on an initial format, where members of each participating club will play amongst each other to select the 'Club Team'. To allow for wider participation by the best golfers as well as beginners, there are three handicap categories 0-8 (played on Gross Stableford format), 9-16 and 17-24 (played on 3/4th Nett Stableford format). Over 150 members from each club compete for the honour to represent their clubs in the second round (regional finals) with the winners and runners-up from each handicap category forming the six-member club team. The regional final will be played at the Karnataka Golf Association on Monday, 9th October '06.


The golftrade Sports Foundation gathers momentum with 8 juniors taken under its wings, we appeal to all our friends to contribute with old equipment, balls or by sponsoring meals, apparel etc of these talented juniors.


THE GOLFTRADE SPORTS FOUNDATION

The golftrade Sports Foundation foundation is being launched, which will enable and help underpriviledged and talented juniors to pursue their dreams in making a career in sports. They will be provided basic education, top of the line coaching, financial support, apparel and incentives, thereby giving them a chance to let their talent lead them to a better life. We request everyone to donate their old golf clubs, balls and golf equipment and any donations big or small, which will help get the juniors started on their way. Please call Indrajit Bhalotia at 92305 07007 or email us at admin@golftrade.in for details.There was a press conference to announce the launch of the same, and the press release can be found in 13th September, 2006 news, in the Archive Section


Our Lucky Dip section now has lots to choose from ... a Maxfli golf bag worth Rs.6000, free golf lessons from the Protouch Golf Academy, visors from Eldyne, and movie tickets from Inox !! Also the Contest section has gift vouchers from Essenza Di Wills ... so try your luck at all of them !!

Our online golf shop guarantees lowest prices in the country and will match any offer anywhere in India. The products are available only in Kolkata and Delhi now. 

 

Red hot deal on the Maxfli set at a discount of 40% oover mrp, special online prices on Taylormade and other top of the line equipment...only on golftrade.in.. Prices to increase from October 2006.