Kapur hit purple patch at 2nd; Ghei improves, Chowrasia disappoint

Jakarta, Feb 18 (UNI) Shiv Kapur made the Indians proud by carding a brilliant five-under 67 to finish just a stroke shy of leaderboard topper Mikko Ilonen of Finland while Gaurav Ghei played a vastly improved game to climb to a decent 23rd spot at the 1.5 million dollar Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open here today.

Kolkata lad SSP Chowrasia, however, looked rusty with a one-over par performance, managing to sink in only two birdies against four bogeys for a tally of one-over 285. He slipped from 19th to tied 33rd spot.

Kapur, who was tied fifth yesterday, swung his club beautifully right from the start as he began with a birdie at the very first hole and then sank another on the fifth only to drop a shot on the sixth hole. But a blemish-free back nine with three more birdies on the 11th, 13th and 14th holes swung the game in his favour.

Meanwhile, Ghei arrested his slide from the 50th spot and carded a four-under 68 to end with a total score of even par 284 at the par-71 Damai Indah Golf and Country Club in Jakarta.

His atrocious seven-over 79 in the third round was among the worst and proved to be decisive at the end.

Shiv Kapur shared second spot with Australia's Andrew Tampion and Frankie Minoza of the Philippines, in the co-sanctioned European and Asian Tour event.

The 27-year-old Ilonen fired a final round 70 to record a one-shot victory at the Indonesian Open and secure his maiden professional victory with a nine-under-par 275.

UNI