Arjun Atwal wins Hero Honda
Masters golf tourney

A correspondent in New Delhi

Arjun Atwal of India gave a belated birthday gift to his brother, when he won his second title on the Asian PGA Tour, when he shot a final round six-under 66 to win the $-200,000 Hero Honda Masters, at the DLF Golf & Country Club, on Sunday.

Atwal, who shot sub-par rounds on all four days, aggregated 18-under 270.

That was two strokes better than runner-up Simon Dyson of England.

Dyson tallied 16-under 272 for his back-to-back runner-up spot after last week's Lexus International but had the satisfaction of dislodging Yeh Wei-tze from top of the order of merit after winning a cheque of $ 22,260. Atwal's earning for the week was $ 32,300 which helped him to eighth position in the order of merit with total earnings of $ 95,107.

American Andrew Pitts finished third at 15-under 273, while overnight leader Rodrigo Cuello slipped to tied fourth place at 13-under 275 along with Scott Kammonn of the US. Defending champion Jyoti Randhawa shot a three-under 69 on the final day to finish in sixth place at 12-under 276.

Atwal began the day two strokes behind Cuello and was soon three strokes back as the Philippine golfer made birdies on the first and fourth holes against Atwal's birdie on the second. But Cuello's game fell apart after a bogey on the fifth, while the Indian's caught fire as he made four consecutive birdies from the sixth hole onwards.

"Those four birdies turned the tide for me. By the time I started the back nine, I was confident that I will win," said the 28-year-old whose earlier victory on the Asian PGA Davidoff Tour was the 1999 Wills Indian Open.

"The Hero Honda Masters title means a lot to me. It will give a lot of confidence to me and prove that the Indian Open win was no fluke. It was also a good birthday gift, though late by one day, for my brother, Govind," added Atwal, who woke up with a sore back in the morning and played the round in some degree of discomfort.

On the back nine, Atwal made a birdie on the 12th and then brilliantly saved a par on the 13th when he was facing a 15-footer downhill par putt. "I was not worried at all. I knew I would make it. However, if I had missed it, that would have put a lot of pressure on me," said Atwal. He then birdied the 15th, made his fourth three-putt bogey in four days on the 16th. In fact, he finished with another three-putt on the 18th, but he had reached the green in two and the title was secured by then.

Dyson, who played his last 42 holes without making any bogey, was lavish in his praise for Arjun. "I have no bad feelings for finishing second. I think Arjun played great on Sunday and I definitely lost to a better player," said Dyson who played along with Atwal, a flight behind the leader group of Cuello and Pitts.

Dyson began with a 20-footer downhill birdie putt on the first and then made another 20-footer downhill birdie putt on the fifth hole. A birdie on the sixth put him at 14-under for the tournament, but thereafter the birdies refused to come though he played some great shots. "I am not complaining. I am happy that I am now leading the order of merit in my very first year on the tour," said Dyson, who is ahead of Yeh Wei-tze by approximately $ 9,000.

Defending champion Randhawa began with a bang and made 20-footer birdie putts on the first and fourth hole. But the going was too good to last and he finished the day at three-under 69. "I have been playing for five continuous weeks and my mind was wandering. I was not focussed enough," said Randhawa, who now heads to play the European Tour Q-School.

Among the other Indian players, Mukesh Kumar made a triple bogey on the 17th hole to finish the day at one-over 73. That put him in tied eight place at nine under 279. Gaurav Ghei shot a two-over 74 to finish tied 12th at seven-under 281. Ghei, who was penalised two strokes on Saturday, had a terrible quadruple bogey eight on the 13th hole. Jeev Milkha Singh came into his own on the final day and shot a four-under 68 to be tied along with Ghei at seven-under.

JEEV, AJAY GUPTA MAKE HOLES-IN-ONE
Ajay Gupta and Jeev (both India) holed the 161-yard par-3 Johnnie Walker hole. However, only Gupta won his weight in Black Label whisky as he was the first to do so. Both players used 8-iron tee shots for their aces.

Gupta, who finally finished 12-over for the tournament and was in 63rd place, was nevertheless happy. "At least I will have something good to remember about this Hero Honda Masters. After playing so badly, it was nice to get this unexpected windfall," said Gupta.

Jeev mounted a superb charge on the final day and was five-under for the day after nine holes. But he had a terrible back nine and finished the day at four-under and was seven-under 281 for the tournament. "It was a bad round. You don't end up with four-under after playing the first nine holes to five-under," said Jeev who now leaves for the United States for the second stage of Qualifying School.

SCORES (after 72 holes): 270 - Arjun Atwal (68,68,68,66); 272 - Simon Dyson (70,67,68,67); 273 - Andrew Pitts (69,68,67,69); 275 - Scott Kammonn (66,70,70,69), Rodrigo Cuello (72,63,67,73); 276 - Jyoti Randhawa (72,64,71,69); 277 - Scott Taylor (74,65,71,67); 279 - Mukesh Kumar (73,67,66,73), Clay Devers (69,68,70,72), Chris Hansucker (69,76,70,64); 280 - Jeev Milkha Singh (71,70,72,68), Hendrik Buhrmann (72,64,76,69), Gaurav Ghei (69,69,69,74), Mike Cunning (70,71,69,71), Sammy Daniels (70,67,70,74).