Ashok Kumar clinches DDA Open golf title

New Delhi: Delhi golfer Ashok Kumar clinched the DDA Open title with a mammoth 10-stroke victory after he posted a sublime eight under 62 in the final round on Saturday.

Ashok Kumar ended the tournament with an impressive total of 20 under 260. Chandigarh`s Sujjan Singh shot a three under 67 to finish a distant second at 10 under 270. Vijay Kumar finished third with nine under 271 after his final round 67. Gaurav Pratap Singh claimed fourth position with an eight under 272 total. Vikrant Chopra and Naman Dawar finished one stroke behind Gaurav in tied fifth. Ashok Kumar (63-68-67-62) began with a flurry of birdies on the first, second and fourth to launch an early assault for the title at the Qutab Golf Course. His tremendous hitting prowess ensured that he left himself birdie putts of two feet or less on these three holes. The mercurial Ashok stepped on the gas with more birdies on the ninth, 10th and 12th to all but seal the title. He sank an 18 feet putt for birdie on the ninth. As he regained his touch with the putter, the leader secured two more birdies from 10 feet on the 15th and 16th. Ashok wrapped up his second straight win on the Aircel PGTI and overall fourth win of the season. The triumph also happened to be the Delhi golfer`s 11th success on the Aircel PGTI and he is now tied with Mukesh Kumar for the maximum number of titles on the tour. "My putting form had deserted me in previous rounds but fortunately that was not the case today. The brilliant start lifted my confidence and there was no looking back from there on," said Ashok. "The 2010 season is turning out to be an exceptional one for me and I attribute this golden run to my improved mental strength. I have worked on my mental fitness this year and as a result I am not making as many errors as I used to earlier," he said. The winner`s cheque of Rs 484,950 has consolidated the Delhi golfer`s position at the top of the Rolex Rankings. He is now sitting pretty at number one with earnings of Rs 4,893,092 for the year. Anirban Lahiri is in second position as he has so far earned Rs 3,736,208 in the 2010 season. Sujjan Singh (68-66-69-67), a winner on the Aircel PGTI earlier this year, was the only other golfer besides Ashok who recorded four under par scores this week. The Chandigarh golfer`s runner-up finish secured him his fourth top-10 of the year. PTI