New Delhi, April 3, 2009: Ashok Kumar will take on Rahul Ganapathy in the final of the SRF All India Professional Golf Matchplay Championship 2009. Ashok, the fifth seed, entered the final after defeating Anura Rohana of Sri Lanka by a convincing margin of 3 & 2 in the first semi-final match played at the Delhi Golf Club on Friday. In the other semi final, third seed Rahul Ganapathy of Mysore beat Delhi’s Vivek Bhandari with a 3 & 1 scoreline.

Delhi’s Ashok Kumar ended the dream run of Anura Rohana in a match that witnessed a flurry of birdies. Ashok, a five time winner on the PGTI and the 2007 SRF All India Matchplay champion, lost the opening hole to Rohana as the latter sank a birdie. Ashok then regained the lead after winning with birdies on the second and third. He chipped-in from 12 feet on the second and then holed a 15 feet putt on the third.

The see-saw battle continued with the Sri Lankan registering wins on the sixth and seventh and Ashok rallying to take the eighth and ninth with birdies. On the eighth, Ashok came up with an excellent bunker shot to set up an easy birdie putt. The Delhi golfer then took control of the match as he made pars to win the 13th and 14th and went three up.

Rohana, who had earlier in the tournament upset favourites such as Arjun Singh, Gaurav Ghei and Mukesh Kumar, tried to close the gap when he took the 15th hole with a birdie, but Ashok converted a 15 feet birdie putt on the very next hole to wrap up the match 3 & 2 and book a place in the final.

Ashok said, “It was raining birdies for both Anura and me. Anura played really well and was unfortunate to lose out. The key to my win today was sinking a number of long putts. My good form with the irons continued today and I also raised the bar as far as my putting was concerned.”

“My game plan at the beginning of the round was to play safe and let Anura attack. But my iron-play was so good that I could easily go for birdies myself. I did not feel any pressure playing against Rohana even though he had upset a few big names earlier in the tournament,” said Ashok, the 2006-07 PGTI Order of Merit champion.

He added, “The final would make for an exciting contest as Rahul (Ganapathy) has been at the top of his game of late.”

In the second semi-final, it was all square after 10 holes as Rahul Ganapathy won the fourth, fifth, seventh and Vivek Bhandari prevailed on the third, ninth and 10th. However, Ganapathy started pulling away from Bhandari when he won the 13th and 14th with birdies.

Bhandari then won the 15th to reduce Ganapathy’s lead to one up. Thereafter, Ganapathy won the 16th and 17th to secure the match 3 & 1.

“It was a pretty solid round for me today. My hitting was good even though I could have done better. I have been in decent form recently and have been hitting it better than what I managed today. Nevertheless, it feels great to make it to the final. I’m looking forward to playing Ashok as he is very attacking by nature,” said Ganapathy, a three time winner on the PGTI last season.

He added, “I think the turning point in this tournament for me was the second round win against Amandeep Johl. In that match I was one down after 15 and went on to win on the 17th. That victory gave me a huge boost. My matchplay record hasn’t been very good over the years and I would now like to change that.”

Tee times for April 4, 2009: 6:45 am (Final): Ashok Kumar v Rahul Ganapathy (first 18 holes); 11:30 am (3rd place match): Anura Rohana v Vivek Bhandari; 11:37 am (Final): Ashok Kumar v Rahul Ganapathy (second 18 holes).