BEIJING/MADRID: Indian golf took a major leap with two of their stars producing sublime golf almost 10,000 kilometers apart in the Chinese and Spanish capital cities.
While Gaurav Ghei was carving the opposition with a steady round that gave him a two-shot win in the USD 500,000 Pine Valley Beijing Open on the Asian Tour, Jyoti Randhawa, who recently became a father, came within a whisker of becoming only the third Indian to win on the European Tour.
Randhawa came back from a four-shot deficit in the two million euro Open de Espana and with three rounds of 65-66-67, finished sole second behind Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, who with a final round of 67 ended at 16-under and one shot ahead of Randhawa.
It was Ghei's third career win, all of them having come on the Asian tour, while Randhawa, one of India's most solid players, was clocking his fifth top-10 finish on the 2007 European Tour season. He has previously won six titles on Asian Tour and one on the Japan tour.
"I have come close to winning on European Tour quite a few times, hopefully it will happen soon," said Randhawa, whose actress-model wife, Tina, recently gave birth to their first child, a boy. Interestingly, Ghei's fortunes seemed to have changed after the birth of his son, Raghav, two years ago.
In the period since, Ghei has won twice, once at Mercuries Masters in September 2006 and now at the Beijing Open. His only previous win had come back in 1995 in Gadgil Masters in New Delhi.
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