Eagleton qualifies for finals of McDowell's Signature Club Golf

Bangalore, Oct 9 (UNI) India's leading amateur Abhishek Jha guided Eagleton Golf Resort to the All India finals in the sixth edition of the McDowell's Signature Club Golf Championship 2007.

The regional final witnessed the host club edge out six other clubs to emerge as the South Zone champions and book a ticket to Thailand for the finals. This incidentally was Eagleton's second straight entry into the All India finals.

Apart from Abhishek, the winning team comprised of GS Ravi, Dhananjay Naidu, S Krishna Kumar, K N Bhat and Vasuki Sesadri.

The champions logged 121 stableford points. Madras Gymkhana Club who had finished runner-up last year had to contend with the same fate in this edition as well. The team from Chennai which included K Kumaran, Ram Bajekal, V Darshan, Dananjay Das, V Prashanth and Dr S Sunder Rajan finished second with 116 points.

The event was played under three handicap categories 0-8 (played on Gross Stableford format), 9-16 and 17-24 (played on 3/4th Nett Stableford format). The best card in each category and the fourth best card in the six-member team formed the team's total.

The McDowell's Signature Club Golf Championship 2007 will bring together over 4,500 golfers representing 30 top golf clubs from 20 cities across the country. The Championships will culminate in the Grand Finale to be held Phoenix Golf Course, Pattaya, Thailand, to decide the McDowell's Signature Champion Golf Club of India. India's largest golf tournament will now travel to the North Zone where ten clubs are in fray for the elite spot.

In the skills, competition, V Darshan won the Kingfisher Longest Drive on hole No. 1 with a drive of 293 yards that fetched him a return ticket on Kingfisher Airlines, while Cdr. P Sengupta clinched the Signature straightest drive competition on the 15th hole.

UNI