Chiragh wins PGTI Player of the Year

New Delhi: Chiragh Kumar was named the Professional Golf Tour of India`s Rolex Player of the Year for being the top earner in the 2011 season.

He received a Rolex custom engraved timepiece for earning Rs 3,706,821 for the season.

The Rolex First Time Winners Awards were presented to Indian professionals Sanjay Kumar, Manav Jaini, Anura Rohana, Feroz Ali Mollah, Mithun Perera and Vinod Kumar. These six professionals registered their maiden victories on the PGTI during the 2011 season.

Rashid Khan received the Aircel Emerging Player of the Year Award. Rashid won this award on the basis of accumulating the highest earnings among all those professionals who made their debut as full card holders on the PGTI in the 2011 season.

Rashid took home over Rs. 2.7 million in prize money for the year 2011. He finished a strong fourth on the Rolex Rankings.

"It is very encouraging to see so many young Indian golfers excel at international and domestic events. They, along with some of the established golfers, have made India an emerging power centre for golf in Asia. I am glad to say that corporate sponsorships have given unprecedented impetus to the growth of the game," said PGTI President Gautam Thapar.

The awards ceremony last night was attended by top Indian professionals and all key stake holders critical to the growth of the sport in the region in the years to come.

The evening featured a performance by famous Indian jazz musician Louis Banks and his band.

Indians seek redemption in SAIL-SBI Open

New Delhi: After a not-too-impressive show at the Avantha Masters last week, Indian golfers will seek redemption at the Asian Tour and PGTI co-sanctioned SAIL-SBI Open to be played at the Delhi Golf Club from Wednesday.

Out of the 31 Indian golfers in fray at the Avantha Masters, Delhi`s Shamim Khan managed best in 22nd place, while defending champion SSP Chowrasia finished further down the order at tied 48th place.

Chowrasia, who is coming off a soft tissue injury on his forearm, is looking forward to up his game in the USD 300,000 tournament to be played on the stage of his biggest career win at the Emmar-MGF Indian Masters in 2008.

"I was doing most things right, I was hitting well, but for some reason the putts didn`t fall. Though, I would have loved to finish higher up the order, I don`t intend to think much about last week.”

"I am looking forward to this week`s SAIL Open. I have lots of happy memories from the Delhi Golf Club; I have lots of positives to look forward to. You can say that I have already moved on," said the 2011 Asian Tour Order of Merit No.3.

Nothing went right for another high performer Gaganjeet Bhullar. With scores of 75 and 73 in the first two rounds, the Kapurthala golfer missed the cut.

"My short game let me down this week. I drove the ball very well but let myself down on the putting greens. Next week, at the SAIL-SBI Open conditions will be totally different.”

"Also I finished the round at DLF positively with four consecutive birdies so I am optimistic. The Delhi Golf Club calls for a totally different game-plan and one has to very calculative and accurate off the tee-box. I am looking forward to the challenge and aim to sharpen up my short game in the meantime," said Bhullar.

Indian pros can draw some confidence from their familiarity with the deceptively tricky and heavily forested DGC.

"It was very windy out there and it was erratic. I think that affected all of us who are not very long hitters. At the DGC it`s usually not so windy, but one has to be very precise," said Chowrasia.

Anirban Lahiri, who despite his best finish in a tri-sanctioned event ended up in 23rd place on the leaderboard at DLF, is keen to return to the scene of his maiden Asian Tour triumph in the 2011 Panasonic Open.

"I was very disappointed with my putting. Considering I was in the top. 10, I should have finished much higher up. This, however, however my best finish in a tri-sanctioned event.”

"Looking forward, SAIL-SBI Open will be an important outing for me. I have won my first Asian Tour title at the DGC, so I feel I can do it all over again," he said.

The best Indian finisher at the Avantha Masters, Shamim, who lost the momentum from third round onwards, is also looking to bolster his chances in the Asian Tour event that is being played on his home course.

"Chipping and putting was poor. I was not able to take advantage of my good position after the first two days which was very disappointing. But SAIL-SBI Open is a different ball game and it`s being played on my home course. So I every reason for a better finish and improve my chances on the Asian Tour Order of Merit," said Shamim.

CONFIDENT KIRADECH EYES SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE AT SAIL-SBI OPEN

New Delhi, February 21: Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat returns to the scene of his maiden Asian Tour victory, buoyed with confidence as he gets ready to defend his title at the SAIL-SBI Open which tees off on Wednesday.

Following another top-10 result last week, the defending champion believes he is capable of another grandstand finish at the Delhi Golf Club after a solid run of early season form.

“I’m really excited about coming back here to defend my title. This is my first time returning as the defending champion and I’ll do my best,” said Kiradech.

Kiradech narrowly missed out on his second win in Myanmar last month and was briefly in contention at the halfway stage at the Avantha Masters last week.

The Thai is relishing the challenge from the strong field this week and is hopeful that another win could be on the cards for him.

“I’m enjoying myself in India. I’ve gained a lot of confidence from last week and I’ve been putting really well, which is important,” said Kiradech.

Meanwhile India’s Manav Jaini is determined to make up for last year’s heartbreak where he missed out on his maiden title at the Delhi Golf Club.

The Indian was agonisingly close to winning his first Asian Tour title at the Panasonic Open India but fell short in the three-way play-off.

Having played in all four rounds at the Avantha Masters last week, Jaini is however upbeat about his chances as he will be teeing off on his home course where he has intimate knowledge.

“I was feeling a little low in confidence going into the competition last week. But having made the cut there and every time I come back to the Delhi Golf Club, I’m always feeling a lot better about my game,” said Jaini.

While confidence and form is important, Jaini also knows that he has to contend with the elements.

“The windy conditions are the toughest conditions at the Delhi Golf Club because of the nature of the golf course. The winds swirl a lot out here and you are always second guessing a lot. That’s going to make the golf course very tough to play,” said Jaini.

Chiragh Kumar, who burst into the scene when he charged into contention at the Hero Indian Open at the halfway stage only to finish second, is determined to bounce back to form.

“I haven’t been in the best of form the last few weeks and I’m hoping that things would change for me this week. I’ve been feeling frustrated with everything that has been going on with my game but I’m feeling better now and hopefully it’ll be a good week,” said Kumar.

Other regional stars set to contend for the SAIL-SBI Open title include Singapore’s Mardan Mamat, 12-time Asian Tour winner Thaworn Wiratchat of Thailand and Bangladeshi Siddikur, who has finished seventh and eighth on the Order of Merit in the past two seasons.

The history-maker from Dhaka who is the first Bangladeshi to win on the Asian Tour is eager to return to his winning ways and hopes that he can end his two-year title drought this week.

“Two years is a long time since my last win and I’m starting to get impatient. I’ve been playing well and hopefully this can be my week again,” said Siddikur, who finished second at the SAIL-SBI Open last year.

The SAIL-SBI Open is the second of the four events scheduled to be played in India on the Asian Tour this season.