SCORESHEET
SEMI-FINAL
QUARTER-FINAL
ROUND 2
ROUND 1


April 11th 2010, New Delhi: Shamim Khan outclassed Vinod Kumar 3 & 1 in the final of the SRF All India Professional Golf Matchplay Championship 2010 at the Delhi Golf Club on Sunday. Shamim’s third title win on the Aircel-PGTI ended his 16 month title-drought and also catapulted him from 18th place to second position on the Rolex Rankings for 2010 (Order of Merit) as he took home the winner’s cheque of Rs. 6,50,000.

Ashok Kumar defeated Randhir Singh Ghotra 2 & 1 to win the playoff for third place.

Shamim Khan recorded the fifth professional win of his career and his third on the Aircel-PGTI after an absorbing encounter against fellow DGC professional Vinod Kumar, whom he had earlier beaten in the final of the 2006 SRF Matchplay Championship.

Vinod seized the initiative in the morning as he was three ahead after 11 holes on the first 18. Shamim then rallied to win the 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th to go one ahead. However, Vinod came back strongly by winning the 17th and 18th to be one up after the first 18.

Shamim Khan at the final

It was a see-saw battle in the first half of the second 18 holes as the lead changed hands a few times with Shamim winning the third, sixth, seventh and 11th and Vinod bagging the fourth, eighth and 10th. It was all square after the 11th on the second 18. Shamim, who by now was in good driving and putting form, almost sealed it with wins on the 14th and 16th holes. He halved the 17th to finally win 3 & 1.

Shamim said, “It feels great to win a title after such a long time and that too on my home course. This win has come at the right time since it has boosted my confidence ahead of a long season. My driving was a little weak today on the first 18 and that’s the reason I was trailing during the first half of the day. But my driving came good on the second 18 holes. I also putted extremely well through the day.”

"I made some really long putts for birdies on the second 18. The 35 feet putt for birdie on the seventh gave me loads of confidence and I followed that up with another 12-footer for birdie on the 11th that turned out to be one of the key moments of the match,” added Shamim.

Vinod Kumar said, “My putting really let me down today. I made three-putts on the 16th in the morning and afternoon. However, I’ll take a lot of heart from this performance as it yielded my best finish on the Aircel-PGTI so far.”

In the playoff for third place, last year’s champion Ashok Kumar of Delhi beat Randhir Singh Ghotra of Chandigarh by a 2 & 1 margin.