Bhalotia wins Wills Southern Open

Indrajit Bhalotia finally lived up to his immense reputation and won the Rs One million Wills Southern Open after leading from wire-to-wire at the par-68, Karnataka Golf Association golf course in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bhalotia shot a two-under 66 on the final day to aggregate eight-under 267.

Veteran Rohtas Singh finished second with a four-day tally of one-under 274 while Feroz Ali jumped up the leaderboard with a brilliant three-under 65 and took the third place at two-over 277.

At joint fourth spot were Mukesh Kumar, Uttam Singh Mundy and Prakash Kubde at four-over 279. Bhalotia’s effort was worth Rs 1.62 lakh, while Rohtas Singh was richer by Rs 1.12 lakh. The prizes were given away by ITC branch manager Nitin Asthana immediately after the event.

A total of 69 holes were played with the par for the four days totalling up to 275. The first two days saw only 17 holes being used at the KGA Course due to the renovation work on the first hole with the par being 68, the same as the final day. An 18-hole par-71 round was played during the third round.

Bhalotia held his nerve while everybody faltered around him. The Calcutta-based golfer did not relinquish his lead throughout the 69 holes played in the tournament. On Saturday, in another high scoring day, Bhalotia was at his consistent best, carding a two-under 66. The Calcuttan started the day with a superb 20 feet putt for birdie. He however dropped shots on the third and fourth to slip to five-under overall. His second birdie on the fifth saw him finish the front nine at level-par.

"It was at this stage that I became 100 per cent confident of winning," said the winner of the 1998 Crompton Greaves All-India Matchplay Championship.

On the back nine, he birdied the tenth, 14th and 16th and dropped one shot on the 13th hole, when he made his only three-putt of the entire week.

"I would like to thank Tarun Sardesai and his father for supporting me throughout the week and creating an atmosphere like what I enjoy at home. This really played a major part in my victory," said the Shima Seiki Janaksons sponsored golfer.

Rohtas Singh gets better and better with age. The senior most member of the Indian Golf Tour, proved to one and all the value of experience and how it scores over youth, as he returned a day’s card of one-under 67, which included a 40-feet putt for birdie on his first hole, followed by birdies on the fourth and tenth and dropped shots on the sixth and 11th.

"My bogeys came because of wrong club selection. Anyway, I am happy with my runner-up finish," said Rohtas.

Feroz Ali finished third for the second week in succession, after the Ford-MGC Open, which was won by his brother Rafiq last week. The 1998 Wills Indian Open winner had a brilliant starts and birdied the second, third, fourth, eighth and ninth, but bogies on the sixth and 15th, applied the brakes on him.

"I was trying for second place and am disappointed not to make it," said Feroz who earned a cheque of Rs. 63,000 for his effort.

Mehra wins amateur title: Sanjeev Mehra wrapped up the amateur title with a four-day tally of 301. Amitabh Poddar finished second eight strokes behind at 309.

SCORES (after 69 holes): 267 _ Indrajit Bhalotia (65,65,71,66); 274 _ Rohtas Singh (67,69,71,67); 277 _ Feroz Ali (69,66,77,65); 279 _ Mukesh Kumar (67,73,71,68), Prakash Kubde (69,69,71,70), Uttam Singh Mundy (67,70,70,72); 281 _ Amitabh Jaitha (71,66,75,69), Sanjay Kumar (68,66,76,71), Ranjit Singh (69,66,74,72); 282 _ Vijay Kumar (70,69,71,72); 283 _ Shiv Prakash (72,67,74,70), Harmeet Kahlon (70,69,73,71), Rafiq Ali (68,73,70,72)

Amateurs: 301 _ Sanjeev Mehra (75,73,79,74); 309 _ Amitabh Poddar (77,75,78,79); 319 _ Sreepad Renu (80,74,84,79).