Amardip Malik's team wins Pro-Am competition

Bangalore, Feb 21 (UNI) Professional golfer Amardip Malik and his team of Rajesh Jairath, Gumbhir Nitin and Ratan Kumar today won the Pro-Am competition of the Solaris Global Green Open Golf, which heralded the start of the richest event in South India at the Bangalore Golf Club.

The cream of Bangalore's amateur golfing fraternity participated in the competition, mingling with the country's leading professional golfers over 18-holes of relaxed and enjoyable golf.

Amardip and his team won the Pro-Am competition, contested by 32 teams and played according to the Texas Scramble format, with a winning score of 50.2 points.

Vikrant Chopra and his team, comprising Sanjeev Mehra, Indur Hirani and Shishikant, finished runners-up with 51.7 points, while India's leading Order of Merit winner and professional golfer Mukesh Kumar and his team of Anil Laad, Kiran Basappa and S K Raghunandan were awarded the prize for second runners-up with a score of 52.5 points.

Shiv Kapur enthralled the region's amateur golfers with a clinic on the basics of the swing and short game tips. He hit some creative drives on the range and displayed his excellent chipping and putting skills.

''This is a great tournament and sponsors like Solaris and Global Green demonstrate the future the game has in our country...Indian golf professionals are performing all over the world and it is wonderful to see such a super reception back home,'' Shiv said.

Mukesh Kumar, who had an good round today, said the victory was a bonus. ''I am looking forward to teeing it up tomorrow as the course is in excellent shape. We should witness a lot of competitive golf this week and I am sure numerous low scores will be carded this week.'' The fifth leg of the 2006-07 season on the Professional Golf Tour of India, the 72-hole stroke play competition of the Solaris Global Green Open Golf would tee off at the Bangalore Golf Club tomorrow.

UNI