Gaurav Pratap Singh wins ONGC Masters golf

NOIDA - Gaurav Pratap Singh registered his first professional win after a nail-biting finish in the ONGC Masters 2009 at the Noida Golf Course here Saturday.

Singh came through on his home turf despite firing a three over 75 in the final round. He ended the tournament with a total of three under 285. Vijay Kumar of Lucknow finished a close second at two under 286 while Delhi’s Gaurav Ghei was a further stroke back in third place.

Singh (70, 70, 70, 75) enjoyed a comfortable lead for most of the day though he had two experienced campaigners such as Vijay Kumar and Gaurav Ghei on his tail.

Singh made a solid start, making pars on the first six holes. He then pulled his drive to the left on the seventh and subsequently three-putted to drop a double bogey. A birdie followed on the very next hole.

Singh’s poor hitting form on the final day resulted in his first bogey of the day on the 11th. The 25-year-old then earned a valuable birdie on the par five 14th, where he made a nice recovery thanks to a great chip shot.

Singh led by three strokes from Ghei after the 16th. The leader then three-putted from nine feet to make bogey on the 17th, while Ghei and Vijay Kumar picked up birdies on the same hole. So the leader group approached the 18th tee with Singh at four under, Ghei at three under and Vijay Kumar at two under.

Singh then found the water hazard with his tee shot on the 18th but held on to his nerve as he came up with an excellent nine iron third shot that landed 15 feet from the pin and helped him make a good bogey for victory.

Ghei, on the other hand, missed the fairway and an up and down to make double bogey on the final hole and thus finished third. Meanwhile, Vijay Kumar missed his 30-feet birdie putt on the 18th by a whisker and had to settle for second place. Vijay would have headed for a playoff with Singh had he made a birdie on the closing hole.

“I did not expect it to get so close at the end. I was targeting a score of 70 today but my poor driving let me down. I have no complaints. I finally registered my first win and cannot describe how good it feels to be holding that trophy, said Singh.