Randhawa retains DLF Masters title

Jyoti Randhawa edged out veteran Mukesh Kumar by one stroke to retain the DLF Masters crown at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon on Sunday.

Randhawa shot a one-under 71 in the final round to total eight-under 280 for the tournament. Mukesh, on the other hand, produced a fabulous round of five-under 67 to finish one stroke behind Randhawa at seven-under 281.

Randhawa has now registered four wins out of four starts on the PGTI and has also climbed to 10th on the PGTI Order of Merit.

Mukesh is the current leader on the PGTI Order of Merit as a result of his second place finish at the DLF Masters.

Randhawa's win was due to a solid final round at his home course. He began poorly with a double bogey on the second where he landed his tee shot in the left rough.

But he soon recovered with a birdie on the third. The defending champion picked up another birdie on the ninth to make the turn even-par.

He then made pars all the way till the 14th.

Mukesh, in the meantime, caught up with Randhawa with the golfers tied at seven under. But Randhawa once again took the outright lead when he knocked down a birdie on the 15th.

He slipped back into the joint lead with Mukesh for a brief period after dropping a bogey on the 17th but managed to seal his win by making a 20 feet two-putt for birdie on the 18th.

"This win is of great significance for me because I have not been in the best of form recently.

"I think I was trying too hard to win in the early part of the tournament and thats why I was not at the top of my game. But today I felt great in the morning while practicing and knew that a solid performance was round the corner," Randhawa said.

Mukesh, a four-time winner on the PGTI in the 2007-08 season, began his round with a birdie on the first. He then sank in two more birdies on the sixth and seventh to make the turn at three-under.

Thereafter, back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th brought him on level terms with Randhawa.

Mukesh dropped back into second when he bogeyed the 12th.

He then birdied the 15th to be the joint leader once again. The professional from Mhow parred the last three holes even as Randhawa shot ahead with two birdies and a bogey on his last four holes.

"I played a good round today as I hit all the fairways. However, my putting let me down because I missed two three feet putts for birdie and a four feet putt for eagle on the sixth.

"I gave myself a number of chances but could not convert them. The biggest disappointment was my third shot on the 18th," he said.

Further down the leader-board, Ashok Kumar capped his week with a brilliant 68 to finish third at five-under 283. Ashok sank two eagles and four birdies while he dropped strokes with two bogeys and a double bogey.

Gaganjeet Bhullar (75) and Shamim Khan (75) were both tied fourth at two-under 286.