Calcutta golfers shine in Servo Masters Pro-am

S S P Chowrasia and Raju Ali stole the limelight in the pro-am event of the Rs 850,000 Servo Masters Golf 2000, being played on the par-72, 6,309 yard Digboi Club Golf links, on Tuesday.

While Chowrasia led his team to a fine win, Raju Ali returned with the day's best card by a professional, a three-under 39.

A 25-strong field participated in the pro-am including, defending champion of the Servo Masters, Rohtas Singh; "Player of the Year" award winner for the '99-2000' season, a golfer fresh from carding back-to-back wins on the Tour, Mukesh Kumar; current leader on the money list Shiv Prakash; highest prize-money winner for the past three seasons running, Vijay Kumar, Feroz Ali and twice Indian Open winner Ali Sher.

S S P Chowrasia and his team of LW Khongwir and SN Borah brought in a winning tally of 113 points, with Chowrasia carding 38 of these, which amounts to two-under 70. Chowrasia, as the professional in the winning team got to take home Rs 5,000.

Minky Barbora, the only Assamese pro in the field, justified IOC (Assam Oil Division)'s decision to sponsor him for the duration of this event by carding a fine two- under 70 on Tuesday. Minky's effort played a telling role in his team's finishing runner-up with a tally of 112 points. RN Chakraborty, S Hazarika and RS Choudhary completed Minky's fourball. The Assamese golfer was richer by Rs. 3,000 for his effort.

Last year's runner-up in the main event, Ali Sher and his team of S Goswami, S P Pradhan and P N Goala finished third with 108 points. Ali Sher, who carded a two-under 70, took home Rs.2,000.

Raju Ali, for his day's best score of three-under 69, pocketed Rs. 1,500.

The pro-am was played on a stableford format with each team comprising three amateurs and one professional. The team score was calculated by taking into account the total of the professional's score which was compulsory and the two best nett scores over 18 holes. The team tallying the highest number of points was declared the winner.