SCORESHEET
QUARTER-FINAL
ROUND 2
ROUND 1


April 10th 2010, New Delhi: The final of the SRF All India Professional Golf Matchplay Championship 2010 will witness a clash between two Delhi Golf Club players, Shamim Khan and Vinod Kumar. In the first semi-final match Vinod Kumar registered a convincing 3 & 1 victory against Randhir Singh Ghotra of Chandigarh. In the other semi-final, Shamim Khan, the third seed and the 2006 champion, entered the final after defeating defending champion and second seed Ashok Kumar by a 1 Up margin.

Vinod Kumar triumphed against Randhir Singh Ghotra on the 17th hole on Saturday. Vinod, the 2006 SRF All India Matchplay runner-up, won the fourth hole and lost the fifth before once again taking the lead with a win on the ninth. Randhir then made it all square by winning the 12th. Vinod came roaring back and sealed it with three consecutive wins on the 15th, 16th and 17th.

Vinod said, “I played an average round of golf today but still managed to get past Randhir as he was also not in the best of form. I made only one birdie and won most of the holes on par. I didn’t need to attack today and only aimed to hit the fairways and greens and that got me home. I really need to improve my putting since I made a three-putt at a crucial stage today (14th).”

“Shamim will be a tough opponent and I will need to hit it straight and attack more in order to get the upper hand,” added Vinod.

In the second semi-final, defending champion Ashok Kumar was ahead by one after seven holes but Shamim Khan rallied by sinking some long putts and winning the eighth, ninth and 14th to go ahead by two. Ashok narrowed the gap to one when he bagged the 17th hole. Shamim then sunk a crucial par putt from three feet on the 18th to halve the last hole and wrap up the match.

“I didn’t play to my potential today but at the same time I hardly missed a par. I made some decent putts, most importantly, the winning putt from three feet on the 18th, which was not an easy one by any means. My tee shots were much better as compared to the earlier rounds and that actually made a huge difference at the end. When the wind comes into play, club selection becomes very important and I managed to get that right in the semis,” said Shamim.

He added, “The final promises to an interesting affair as it is a rematch of the 2006 SRF Matchplay final. Both of us are playing on our home turf at the DGC and there will be lot of support for both sides.”

The final match between Shamim Khan and Vinod Kumar will be decided over 36 holes on Sunday. The other match on Sunday will be the playoff for third and fourth place between the losing semi-finalists Ashok Kumar and Randhir Singh Ghotra. This match will be played over 18 holes.