Jaiveer Virk defeats Digvijay Singh, Mukesh has it easy against Jadeja on day one of SRF All India Professional Golf Matchplay Championship

Day of upsets at DGC as Amit Dube knocks out Anirban Lahiri and Om Prakash Chouhan prevails over Himmat Singh Rai

New Delhi, March 31, 2009: Day one of the Aircel PGTI’s SRF All India Professional Golf Matchplay Championship 2009 threw up a number of interesting results. While some of the top contenders such as defending champion Arjun Singh, top seed Mukesh Kumar, Gaurav Ghei, SSP Chowrasia, Shamim Khan and Ashok Kumar advanced to the second round, other big names such as Digvijay Singh, Anirban Lahiri, Himmat Singh Rai, Harmeet Kahlon and Ali Sher made early exits.

Jaiveer Virk of the Delhi Golf Club produced the biggest upset of the day when he defeated fourth seed Digvijay Singh by a margin of 3 & 1 (three holes ahead with one left to play). Virk won the first, ninth, 11th, 12th, 13th and 17th holes while Digvijay won on the eighth, 14th and 16th holes.

Virk said, “I was pretty consistent through the day. I played conservatively on the front nine today. The par on the ninth helped me take the lead at a crucial point. From then on the match swung in my favour as I won four holes on the back nine with par.”

“I knew I had to shoot under par to beat Digvijay today because he does not make too many mistakes and is generally very consistent,” added Virk, who always plays well at his home course, the DGC.

Mukesh Kumar cruised into the round of 32 after he won against Ajay Jadeja 5 & 4. Mukesh, the top seed, was six up at the turn before Jadeja won his first hole on the 10th. Mukesh then extended his lead on the 12th even as Jadeja fought back to win the 13th. It was all over as soon as the 14th hole was halved. At that stage Mukesh was five ahead with four holes remaining.

“I was not at my best today. My driving was poor even though I did well with the irons and the putter. I won a number of holes with par,” said Mukesh.

Mhow’s Om Prakash Chouhan, who is coached by Mukesh Kumar, delivered a memorable 2 Up victory against 12th seed Himmat Singh Rai. It was all square till the 16th before Chouhan won the 17th and 18th to wrap up the match.

“I have gained a lot of confidence after beating a formidable opponent such as Himmat. Himmat has been in good form, having won a tournament this year, so it was good to get past him. I was at the top of my game today and hope to continue in this form for the rest of the tournament,” said 22-year-old Chouhan.

Noida-based professional Amit Dube caused another major upset when he knocked out seventh seed Anirban Lahiri 4 & 3. Dube established an early lead on Lahiri, who was fresh from his best finish on the Asian Tour last week and did not allow him to get back into the game.

In some of the other important matches on day one, defending champion Arjun Singh prevailed over Joseph Chakola 4 & 3, Gaurav Ghei edged out Manav Jaini 2 & 1, SSP Chowrasia beat Vishal Singh 5 & 4 and last year’s runner-up Shamim Khan defeated Amritinder Singh 4 & 3. Harendra Gupta beat Anthony Choat on the 19 th hole (first playoff hole) in a tough contest.

There were a couple of minor upsets as last year’s semi-finalist Ali Sher lost out to Chandigarh’s Gurbaaz Mann while Patna’s Mohd Islam beat Harmeet Kahlon 1 Up.

The closest encounter in round one was between Nepal’s Toran Bikram Shahi and DGC’s Vinod Kumar. Toran emerged victorious on the 22nd hole (fourth playoff hole).

Kolkata’s Feroz Ali Mollah defeated Neil Mundra 8 & 7 to register the largest margin of victory on day one.

Thirty two professionals will be involved in 16 matches in the second round on Wednesday, April 1.

Key matches in Round 2 (Round of 32): 8:30 am: Mukesh Kumar v Randhir Singh Ghotra; 8:44 am: Harendra Gupta v Gaurav Ghei; 8:51 am: Arjun Singh v Anura Rohana; 8:58 am: Jaiveer Virk v Naman Dawar; 9:26 am: Shamim Khan v Gurki Shergill; 9:54 am: Rahul Ganapathy v Amandeep Johl.

ILONEN TAKES LEAD IN BRITISH OPEN QUALIFYING

Sentosa, March 31: Finland’s Mikko Ilonen took a huge step towards qualifying for his fifth appearance at the British Open after posting a six-under-par 65 in the International Final Qualifying – Asia on Tuesday.

The Finn enjoyed a blemish-free round that was highlighted by six birdies to take a two shot lead over three-time Asian Tour winner Terry Pilkadaris of Australia and Japan’s Tomohiro Kondo who both returned with matching 67s.

Singapore’s Mardan Mamat, Korea’s Noh Seung-yul, Malaysia’s Danny Chia and Australia’s Mitchell Brown continued to stay in the hunt for their Major appearance by finishing in tied-fourth on 68 at the Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong course.

Ilonen, who teed off on the back-nine, got his birdie blitz underway on the par-four 13th.

The 29-year-old who featured in the 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006 British Open, followed that up with successive birdies on the 14th, 15th and 18th to make the turn in 31.

Finn continued to set the pace by reeling in two more birdies on the second and fourth holes to return home in 34 for a 65.

“It was very solid all the way round. I missed only a couple of shots at the 18th hole. Overall, I think the greens are in a pretty good shape and it’s quite easy to control the speed,” said Ilonen.

“The conditions at the golf course today are quite good as there’s not much wind and it makes it easier to play well,” added Ilonen, whose best result at The Open was a tied-ninth finish in 2001.

Pilkadaris also recorded a bogey-free round with four birdies on the fourth, fifth, 15th and 18th holes to stake a strong claim for one of the four tickets at stake to The Open at Turnberry, Scotland in July at the two-day qualifier.

“I’m quite pleased with the way I’m hitting the ball. There’re still another 18 more holes to go and there’s still everything to play for tomorrow,” said the Australian.

Meanwhile, Mardan’s hopes of returning to the British Open for the third time remain intact after firing a 68 to end the day in tied-fourth.

“It’s nice to play in the Open again and I miss that feeling. It’s too early to know what’s going to happen but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow,” said Mardan.

Chia, an Asian Tour regular who featured at the 2005 Open at St Andrews and the 2008 Open at Royal Birkdale is also on course for his hat-trick of British Open appearances.

“I’ve been hitting the ball quite well, except for a few missed shots. Overall it’s okay and I’m really looking forward to playing well again tomorrow,” said Chia.

Complete first round scores:
65- Mikko ILONEN (Fin)
67- Terry PILKADARIS (Aus), Tomohiro KONDO (Jpn)
68- Mardan MAMAT (Sin), NOH Seung-Yul (Kor), Mitchell BROWN (Aus), Danny CHIA (Mas)
69- Atthaphon PRATHUMMANEE (Tha), Tadahiro TAKAYAMA (Jpn), Gaganjeet BHULLAR (Ind)
70- Scott HEND (Aus), Andrew DODT (Aus), Tim STEWART (Aus), Young NAM (Kor), Jbe KRUGER (Rsa), Quincy QUEK (A) (Sin)
71 Masaya TOMIDA (Jpn), Tony CAROLAN (Aus), KIM Hyung-sung (Kor), LU Wei-chi (Tpe), Thaworn WIRATCHANT (Tha), Shiv KAPUR (Ind), Simon DUNN (Sco), Gavin FLINT (Aus), Pariya JUNHASAVASDIKUL (Tha), WU Ashun (Chn), Rick KULACZ (Aus)
72- Artemio MURAKAMI (Phi), Anthony KANG (Usa), Neven BASIC (Aus), LIANG Wen-chong (Chn), David BRANSDON (Aus), Keiichiro FUKABORI(Jpn), Bryan SALTUS (Usa), Darren BECK (Aus)
73- Ben LEONG (Mas), Rahil GANGJEE (Ind), LAM Chih Bing (Sin), LIEN Lu-sen (Tpe), Richard LEE (Nzl)
74- Keith HORNE (Rsa), Yoshinobu TSUKADA (Jpn), Mars PUCAY (Phi), Adam Blyth (Aus), Angelo QUE (Phi), Prom MEESAWAT (Tha), Unho PARK (Aus)
75- Mark PURSER (Nzl),YEH Wei-tze (Tpe), Guido VAN DER VALK (Hol)
76- Sushi ISHIGAKI (Jpn)
77- George COETZEE (Rsa), Chinnarat PHADUNGSIL (Tha), Zaw MOE (Mya), Rohan BLIZARD (Aus)
78- Yasin ALI (Eng), David GLEESON (Aus)
79- Marcus BOTH (Aus), Airil Rizman (Mas)

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