Atwal leads the pack

The vagaries of the unique game of golf was very much on view on Friday when Arjun Atwal, after battling back from some poor golf on the front nine to have his score at an acceptable one-over mark, finished on the 18th with a horrendous quadruple bogey to suddenly go from being 10 ahead to only 6 strokes in front, starting the final round of the Rs. one million Wills Eastern Open on Saturday.

There was a stunned silence around the 18th green as Arjun, who had come off birdies on 14th and 15th, found trouble first from the tee and then with his third shot to close with a round of 77. His playing partner Indrajit Bhalotia had made up only two strokes at the end of the 17th before this generous gesture from Atwal. He finished with a 71 and a total of two-under 214 to be six strokes adrift of Arjun who is at eight-under 208.

While this is still a huge lead, the pack behind Atwal including Mukesh Kumar (216), Feroz Ali (217) and Ali Sher (218) would have felt at least the door has been left ajar by Atwal.

Arjun had three bogeys on the very 1st, 5th and 7th holes along with one on the 12th and offset them with birdies on the par 5 -- 4th and 15th as well as the tricky 14th before misfortune struck. This certainly was a huge swing from Thursday, when he made birdies at will.

Indrajit was more consistent and was 2 under at end of eight holes before he bogeyed 9 and 11 but hung on to close at 71. Mukesh did not have a single blemish on his card till the 18th and he, like Feroz, has been consistent if not flashy.

Ali Sher and Digvijay share fifth place with S S P Chaurasia, Anil Samantha and Uttam Singh Mundy, making up the top 8 professionals in the field so far.

It was heartening to see two amateurs in the top ten, with Rahil Ganjee returning a 71 to exchange places with Sanjeev Mehra, who had a 73 and led till Thursday by a solitary stroke.

After Thursday's birdie barrage from Arjun, the Royal bared its teeth and with 71 being the lowest, there were six players at this score from the field of 62 that made the cut.

The race for the "Player of the Year" has boiled down to being between Mukesh Kumar and while he is currently in 3rd place, his nearest rivals Vijay Kumar is in 12th position and Shiv Prakash is in a tie for 15th place which would mean well needed points for last years Champion.

Saturday's winner stands to gain Rs. 1,62,000 with the runner-up receiving 1,12,000.

SCORES: 208_Arjun Atwal (68,63,77); 214_Indrajit Bhalotia (71,72,71); 216_Mukesh Kumar (73,72,71); 217_Feroz Ali (74,71,72); 218_Ali Sher (74,73,71), Digvijay Singh (70,75,73); 219_SSP Chaurasia (73,72,74): 220_Anil Samantha (74,75,71), Uttam Singh Mundy (74,73,73): 221_Mohd. Islam (76,73,72), Devendra Patel (74,74,73),Vijay Kumar (72,74,75)

AMATEURS: 219_Rahil Ganjee (74,74,71), 220_Sanjeev Mehra (78,69,73)