Flawless Mukesh widens lead at Royal Challenge Cup

Mukesh Kumar showed just why he is so successful on the Indian Tour with a flawless perfromance on the third day of the Royal Challenge Grand Prix at the par-70 Bombay Presidency Golf Club course in Mumbai.

His card was studded with one eagle and three other birdies for the day's best card of five-under 65. That helped him open up a huge six-stroke lead for him over the duo of Arjun Singh and Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, both of whom struggled a lot on the greens.

Arjun Singh, who later said, he is feeling physically 100 per cent, hung in there for a one-under 69. Arjun, who has won two titles on the Hero Honda Indian PGA Tour this season, had two birdies and one bogey but also a lot of close misses on more than a handful of birdie putts. Chowrasia had a par round of 70 and his total, like Arjun's is 202, six strokes adrift of Mukesh.

Feroz Ali, one of the stars of the second day, had a poor day with a two-over 72 and but he lies fourth at four-under 206.

"My putts just did not fall. I had 11 putts on the front nine yesterday and today I had 19 and that tells the story," said Feroz, who is currently third on the Order of Merit this season.

One of the big gainers of the third day was Royal Challenge model, Digivijay Singh, who moved up from joint 11th to fifth spot with a error-free card of four-under 66.

Mukesh, who used his driver sparingly, said, "I took out my driver only four times. On the first I got a birdie with a driver and a seven-iron, which landed one feet from the hole. Rest of the day, I was happy with the 3-wood and I wanted to be safe. Playing five-under with bogeys is really satisfying, though with some luck I could have had a couple of birdies more, as I missed by inches."

But with such a huge lead he looks set for this year's fourth title and increasing his lead at the top of the Order of Merit.

"I cannot afford to lose from this position," added Mukesh, as he got set for a host of interviews and a well-earned meal at the clubhouse.

Mukesh opened with an eagle on the first and then had a birdie on the third and ninth for a four-under front nine. He then birdied the 18th for fine day's work.

Arjun Singh, who missed a whole lot of birdies through the day, said, "I was physically not up to it. I just wanted to hang in there. A six shot lead is big, but in golf, it is not unbeatable. I will wait for the last day."

Arjun had birdies on the fourth and 12th but three-putted from a birdie position on the seventh. "My putting was bad and also my hitting was not up to the mark," summed up Arjun.

Chowrasia, had an up-and-down day. For the first half, he seemed to be going all out with four birdies and one bogey for three-under 32, but on the back nine, he simply crumbled. He ended four-over with a particularly horrible streak from the 11th to the 14th holes, during which he dropped three strokes. And then finished with another bogey on the par-five 18th for a day's card of par 70, a far from his cards of 67 and 65 on the first two days.

Digivjay clawed back into contention with a flawless performance of four-under 66 and moved up into the fourth place at three-under 207. Digivjay, brother-in-law of Jyoti Randhawa, birdied each of the four par-fives and on the rest played consistent golf to keep his slate clean.

"Finally after three days I was satisfied with my play," said Digvijay Singh, who on the first and second days had rounds of one-under 69 and two-over 72.

Vijay Kumar, winner of the first Royal Challenge Grand Prix in NOIDA slipped on the third day, as he had an off-colour day. He ended with five bogeys and no birdies and is now in the joint 25th place.

Gast Ram, who set a course record on the second day had a one-over round of 71 and he is now tied for eighth at level-par 210 for 54 holes.

Jyoti Randhawa and Vivek Bhandari are in the tied tenth place with local man, Jagdish Angre, who brought in a superb four-under 66, and Rafiq Ali. They are all at one-over 211 for three days.

Poised for a win, as he is, Mukesh looks set to take the lead in the Royal Challenge Grand Prix money race after having tied for fourth in the last event at NOIDA.

The BPGC event is the second in the series of three domestic events being sponsored by Royal Challenge, who in March will also be sponsoring the prestigious Indian Open.

One of the big incentives of the three RCGP events is that the top two money winners in these events will get to play a unique matchplay event against two top players from Asian PGA field in the week of the Indian Open. The APGA players will be picked from the field coming for the US $ 300,000 Royal Challenge Indian Open in March, 2002. The winners of that matchplay will get Rs. two lakhs each, while the losers will receive Rs. one lakh each.

Keshav Misra leads the amateur race with a two-under 68 on the third day for a three-ver 213, while Gagan Verma is in the second place at seven-over 217 and Sachin Nigade is at 218. Kapil Dev, who had a below average 76, is fourth with at 13-over 223 for three days.

SCORES: After 54 holes:

196 - Mukesh Kumar (63, 68, 65);
202 - Arjun Singh (68, 65, 69), SSP Chowrasia (67, 65, 70);
206 - Feroz Ali (70, 64, 72);
207 - Digvijay Singh (69, 72, 66);
209 - Vinod Kumar (D) (72, 70, 67), Ranjeet Singh (71, 69, 69);
210 - Pappan (68, 73, 69), Gast Ram (77, 62, 71)
211 - Jagdish Angre (70, 75, 66), Rafiq Ali (71, 72, 68), Jyoti Randhawa (72, 68, 71), Vivek Bhandari (73, 66, 72);
212 - Basad Ali (72, 67, 73);
213 - Keshav Misra (A) 74, 71, 68); Binod Pandey (71, 71, 71);
214 - Shiv Prakash (74, 72, 68), Monish Bindra (70, 76, 68), Manohar Dike (74, 68, 72);
215 - Mohd. Islam (70, 76, 69), Mohd. Salim (69, 72, 74);
216 - Sanjay Kumar (74, 72, 70), Rohtas Singh (70, 75, 71), Shamim Khan (73, 66, 77);

Amateurs:
213 - Keshav Misra (74, 71, 68);
217 - Gagan Verma (76, 74, 67);
218 - Sachin Nigade (75, 74, 69);
223 - Kapil Dev (73, 74, 76)