Feroz Ali wins Surya Nepal Masters

A late lapse in concentration couldn't deny Feroz Ali glory at the Rs 900,000 Surya Nepal Masters, as he won the prestigious title for the second time in his career at the Gokarna Golf Club, on Saturday.

The 1996 winner from Calcutta made a double bogey on the 15th and a bogey on the 17th, but by that time he was sure of the title with an eagle on the 12th hole and four birdies in a final round card of two-under 70. That gave him a tally of nine-under 279 for the tournament.

Uttam Singh Mundy, also from Calcutta, shot a similar final round score to take the runners-up position at five-under 283.

Shiv Prakash of Kanpur had the best card of the day, a three-under 69, to finish third at four-under 284, while Delhi’s Mohammed Maqbool authored the best finish of his season with a fourth place at 285.

Order of Merit leader Mukesh Kumar was fifth with 286.

Feroz started with an unfortunate bogey when his second shot caught a tree top and veered way left. He hit his third to less than five feet, but missed the par putt. Mundy almost holed his second shot and made a birdie on the first to reduce the gap to two strokes. However, Feroz hit a peach of a lob wedge second shot on the second hole to three inches off the pin and then two-putted on the par-5 third to go one-under for the day.

Mundy’s challenge faded away after he hit his tee shot on the par-3 fifth on the bushy slopes of the hill on the right. He had an impossible shot from there and finished with a double bogey. Shiv Prakash launched an initial charge with a hat-trick of birdies, but was brought to an abrupt halt with a bogey on the fifth.

Feroz parred the next eight holes, before catching fire from the 12th onwards. On the par-5 12th, he sank a six-feet putt for eagle, and then birdied the next two to pull clear of the field. Even the three dropped strokes on the next three holes gave him any concern.

"It feels good to win, especially after the way I blew up on the final day at last week's HT ProGolf Kolkata. I am playing really well with my new Wilson Fat Shaft clubs and am in a very confident frame of mind before next week’s Servo Masters," said Feroz, whose last victory on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour was in January in Pune.

Mundy pulled ahead of Shiv Prakash on the back nine with three birdies.

"I am happy at the way I pulled back on the back nine. I am playing well at the moment and was looking forward to this event. I really thought I had a good chance to win," said Mundy.

However, Mundy will have the satisfaction of receiving a cheque of Rs 10,000 for establishing the new course record of 65.

BHANDARI IS THE BEST AMATEUR: CB Bhandari won the amateur title with a four-day aggregate of 295. Raj Pradhan came in second at 314.

RESULTS (after 72 holes): 279 _ Feroz Ali (68,67,74,70); 283 _ Uttam Singh Mundy (65,73,75,70); 284 _ Shiv Prakash (70,74,71,69,69); 285 _ Mohd Maqbool (69,71,71,74); 286 _ Mukesh Kumar (72,72,71,71); 287 _ Harmeet Kahlon (70,72,73,72), Gaurav Ghei (73,69,72,73); 288 _ Digvijay Singh (70,70,76,72); 292 _ Gaurav Diwan (73,74,74,71), Rahil Gangjee (67,76,76,73), Vijay Kumar (72,69,74,77);