Mukesh Kumar wins PGTI Order of Merit for 2007-08

New Delhi, December 31, 2008: Mukesh Kumar emerged as the 2007-08 PGTI Order of Merit champion in a season that offered record prize money of Rs. 6.35 crore.

Mukesh enjoyed an outstanding year with total earnings of Rs. 34,31,992. He posted four wins and seven other top 10s out of 19 starts in the 2007-08 season. His victories came at the IOC XtraPremium Masters, Tata Open, The Centurion Bank of Punjab Open and the Tamil Nadu Open Golf Championship.

"The 2007-08 season has been a memorable one for me. I was back at my best this season after going through a lean patch in 2006-07. My hunger to win inspired me to perform really well this year," said Mukesh, who also had a creditable tied sixth finish at the Asian Tour's Indian Open 2008.

He added, "Among my four titles this season, I rate my performance at the Tata Open as the best because the competition was very stiff heading into the final day. My second place finish at the DLF Masters was also very satisfying. I now hope to carry forward my form into the next season."

Delhi's Shamim Khan, a double winner on the PGTI in 2007-08, finished second (Rs. 27,83,883) on the Order of Merit, while Mysore's Rahul Ganapathy, a three time winner in 2007-08, finished third (Rs. 25,98,303).

Digvijay Singh had a highly consistent season (one win and five other top-10s) as he ended the year in fourth place on the Order of Merit. Gaganjeet Bhullar was fifth as a result of his ten top-10 finishes. Ashok Kumar (eight top-10s), the 2006-07 PGTI Order of Merit winner, did not register any win in the season gone by but still managed to finish sixth on the Order of Merit.

The 2007-08 season also witnessed Jyoti Randhawa maintain his hundred per cent success record on the PGTI. He won three titles from three starts in the 2006-07 PGTI season and followed that up with two titles (DLF Masters 2008, BILT Open 2008) from two starts in the 2007-08 season.

A host of new tournaments such as The Global Green Bangalore Open, Solaris Chemtech Open, The Centurion Bank of Punjab Open, the PGTI Players Championship, Tamil Nadu Open Golf Championship, Toyota Altis Open Presented by Eagleton, HUDA-GTPL-Unitech Haryana Open and ONGC Masters were added to the PGTI schedule in 2007-08. These tournaments helped increase the total prize money by Rs. 1.75 crore as compared to the 2006-07 season.

The last season produced a number of first-time winners on the PGTI, including Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Ganapathy (The Global Green Bangalore Open, Solaris Chemtech Open, The AIS Golf Open 2008 Presented by PGTI), Shamim Khan (6th TATA Open, ONGC Masters), Mohd. Siddikur Rahman (PGTI Players Championship at Poona Golf Club, HUDA-GTPL-Unitech Haryana Open), Lam Chih Bing (BILT Open 2007), Arjun Singh (SRF All India Professional Golf Matchplay Championship), Harendra Gupta (PGTI Players Championship at Chandigarh Golf Club), Rahil Gangjee (PGTI Players Championship at Royal Calcutta Golf Club), Digvijay Singh (PGTI Players Championship at Coimbatore Golf Club) and C Muniyappa (Toyota Altis Open Presented by Eagleton).

The players to watch out for in the coming season would be C Muniyappa, Anirban Lahiri, Harendra Gupta and Mohd. Siddikur Rahman. These four professionals finished seventh, eighth, ninth and 12th respectively on the 2007-08 Order of Merit.

The past one year also saw PGTI sanction two European Tour events in India (Emaar-MGF Indian Masters and Johnnie Walker Classic) as well as an Asian Tour event (SAIL Open), thus raising the bar of Indian professional golf.

LALIT SURI JUNIOR / SUB-JUNIOR GOLF TOUR

15-year-old Ashbeer stays on top

Kolkata, Dec 31: Consistency was the name of the game as 15-year-old Ashbeer Saini continued his run on top of the leaderboard at the end of round two of the Lalit Suri All-India Junior golf championship being played at the par-72 Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

Ashbeer shot another round of one under 71, and with a two day total of two under 142, the Category B player has opened up a two shot lead over the field. Hot on his heels is Rashid Khan, the reigning star on the amateur circuit, who fired the best round of the day with a three under 69 to move into second place on the overall leaderboard.

Chikrangappa, the overnight leader in Category A, carded an even par round to find himself two strokes adrift of Rashid and third in the overall category. Another Bangalore boy, Trishul Chinappa who was tied for the lead in Category A, stumbled, and with a round of nine over 81, fell down the leader board.

Honey Basoya, the favourite in Category C(under-12), moved to the top in his age group with an improved showing in the second round. He returned a card of five over 77 to move one-shot clear of Akshath Vidyanth.

Delhi boy, Piyush Sangwan, topped in category D(under-10) with a round of one over 73. The dimunitive boy has carved a name for himself in the junior circuit and is a clear favourite in his category. He has already established a lead of six strokes over the next best player in his age group.

Ashbeer put on another impressive display today, carding his second consecutive under par round at the Royal. Ashbeer made the turn at one under and with a couple of birdies and bogeys on the back-nine, he finished one under for the day.

Rashid, coming off the back of three consecutive wins on the National Amateur Tour, was easily the most dominant player in the field as he returned the best card of the day, six shots better than his effort in the first round.

He had an up and down front-nine, with two birdies and two bogeys but on the homeward nine he sank three birdies to finish with an impressive three under 68, just two shots adrift of the leader.

Scores

Overall (Category A and B)

142: ASHBEER SINGH SAINI (71,71);144: RASHID KHAN (75,69);146: CHIKKARANGAPPA (74,72);152: AMAN GURON (79,73), KHALIN JOSHI (77,75)

Category A

144: RASHID KHAN (75,69);146: CHIKKARANGAPPA (74,72);152: AMAN GURON (79,73), KHALIN JOSHI (77,75);154: SAMRAT BASU (78,76), SAMARTH DWIVEDI (77,77)

Category B

142: ASHBEER SINGH SAINI (71,71);156: RAHUL RAVI (79,77);157: HARJOT SINGH (80,77);159: ANKUR CHADHA (78,81);160: SK SUBIR (81,79), K ANIRUDH (79,81)

Category C

156: HONEY BAISOYA (79,77);157: AKSHATH VIDYANTH (76,81);161: TUTUL ALI (83,78);164: FEROZ SINGH GAREWAL (81,83);166: MANU GANDAS (85,81), SHUBHANKAR SHARMA (84,82)

Category D

73: PIYUSH SANGWAN;79: PRAKHAR ASAWA;84: DEEPAK SHARMA;85: MS RIDHIMA DILAWARI;86: SHUBHAM NARAIN