Shiv Prakash maintains Order of Merit lead

Shiv Prakash of Kanpur continued to lead the Wills Sport Golf Tout Order of Merit after the Servo Masters Golf 2000, the 12th event on the Tour, which concluded last week at the Digboi Golf Links, Digboi.

The veteran golfer has so far amassed Rs 812,000 from 12 events and with at least ten more events on the Wills Sport Golf Tour, looks all set to break the million-rupee barrier for the second successive season.

Shiv Prakash won the Tiger Sports Marketing Open this season in record-breaking manner with an aggregate of 25-under and the Wills Northern Open at Lucknow. He also finished second in the Honda Siel-Nike PGA Championship, the richest event on the Indian Tour.

Mukesh Kumar, the Player of the Year last season, moved up to the second place ahead of Jyoti Randhawa, thanks to his back-to-back victories in the ONGC-Noida Golf Club Open and Surya Masters. Mukesh's tied-fifth place finish at Digboi took his season's earnings to Rs 697,000 from playing 11 events, marginally ahead of the Honda Siel-Nike PGA champion Randhawa, who has made Rs 673,000 from just three events. Randhawa also won the inaugural Xerox Open this season.

Sanjay Kumar, winner of the Servo Masters, jumped ahead of Gaurav Ghei in the fifth place. His earnings for the season so far is Rs 392,000, but is still way below the fourth place Vijay Kumar. The Order of Merit winner for past three season, who did not play the Servo Masters, has earned Rs 639,000 so far. Ghei, who missed the last three events on the Indian Tour, slipped to sixth place at Rs 372,000.

The biggest mover of the week was rookie Praduman Guleria of Delhi. Guleria, who shot an albatross en route to his fourth place finish in Digboi, leapfrogged from 54th place after the Surya Nepal Masters to 36th in the latest Order of Merit.

Also making a big move was another rookie golfer - Rahul Ganapathy. The Bangalore-based Ganapathy finished runner-up in Digboi and earned a cheque of Rs 95,200, which helped him move up to 11th place at Rs 270,000 from last week's 18th place.

Brothers Feroz and Rafiq Ali, Indrajit Bhalotia (all three from Calcutta) and veteran golfer Rohtas Singh completed the top ten after Gaurav Ghei.

THE TOP 10 IN ORDER OF MERIT: 1. Shiv Prakash (Kanpur) Rs 8,12,086; 2. Mukesh Kumar (Mhow) Rs 6,97,027; 3. Jyoti Randhawa (Delhi) Rs 6,72,800; 4. Vijay Kumar (Lucknow) 6,38,900; 5. Sanjay Kumar (Lucknow) Rs 3,92,518; 6. Gaurav Ghei (Delhi) Rs 3,72,400; 7. Feroz Ali (Calcutta) 3,58,040; 8. Rafiq Ali (Calcutta) Rs 3,17,965; 9. Indrajit Bhalotia (Calcutta) Rs 3,12,020; 10. Rohtas Singh (Delhi) Rs 2,92,078