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Jeev ties for 29th place

Joy Chakravarty

Jeev Milkha Singh played an up-and-down round on the final day of the euro 1.82 million Volvo PGA Championship to card a one-under 71 and finish tied for the 29th place in this showpiece event of the European PGA Tour.

According to information, Jeev made another disastrous start to the round when, after parring the first two holes, he double-bogied the 452-yard par-4 third. He was never in the hunt thereafter, but managed to restore parity by the turn with birdies on the fourth and the ninth holes. He then moved to one-under with a birdie on the12th, but that was negated when he dropped a stroke on the 14th. A birdie on the final hole, a par-5, gave Jeev the one-under card.

Despite the finish, the Chandigarh based pro moved up three spots to 20th in the Volvo European PGA Tour Order of Merit. That was not good enough to gain a direct entry into the British Open.

Jeev needed to finish in the top five here, which would have propelled him above Bob May in the Order of Merit. May, at number 10, took the final available direct entry which was finalised on Monday.

The tournament was won by Colin Montgomerie of Scotland, who emulated the feat of Nick Faldo in 1981 by successfully defending his title.

‘Monty’ was in great form after Englishman Paul Eales came withing one stroke of him. The Scotsman hit birdies on the 10th and 11th and an eagle on the 12th to race ahead of the field. He finally finished with eight-under 64 for the day and 18-under 270 for the tournament, five strokes better than the runner-up Mark James of England. Eales finished third at 12-under 276.

Jeev next plays the Compass Group English Open and then heads for the US on Sunday night to compete in the final stage of the US Open qualifiers. The US Open begins at the Pinehurst Country Club from June 17th.

Results: (after 72 holes): 1st. 270 _ Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 69+70+67+64; 2. 275 _ Mark James (Eng) 67+70+72+66; 3. 276 _ Paul Eales (Eng) 68+70+71+67; T-4th. 277 _ Retief Goosen (RSA) 67+69+70+71, Ernie Els (RSA) 68+67+74+68, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 73+67+69+68; T-7th. 278 _ Bernard Langer (Ger) 65+73+70+70, Matthias Gronberg (Swe) 69+73+67+69, David Carter (Eng) 71+70+69+68; T-29th. 283 _ Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72+69+71+71