By the time we figured out the best source for information, the starter at the Brunei Open had swiftly seen off all the groups, a handsome lunch and most of Kate and Leopold. Well, maybe not, but a malfunctioning Asian Tour scoreboard left us panic-stricken, and desperately hunting for updates from the final round. When we did chance upon scoring solutions, Gaganjeet Bhullar had pulled away, quite like the railway carriages that Kapurthala is famous for, with the now frequent, and much appreciated, birdie blitz.
Yup, he went birdie birdie birdie and was in the mix, and another title was firmly in sight. But Boonchu Ruangkit did enough on the front-nine to stay ahead of a bunch of contenders. When Gagan finally held a share of the lead, for the first time this week, it seemed like all of Brunei was tied for first place. With four men on top, the tournament had clearly turned into a delightful Sunday afternoon of competitive golf.
Australian Darren Beck enjoyed a great run on the homeward-nine, but a 65 put him at 13-under, a shade short of what we thought would be the winning score. But how wrong we were. The Aussie duo of Scott Barr and David Gleeson fell away, Gagan bogeyed the par-5 15th to join Beck and Boonchu Ruangkit looked set to do a “Tom Watson”.
To be honest, and incredibly mean, it would be fair to say that he actually did a “Tom Watson”, bogeyed the last hole and brought upon us a three-man playoff. While he slipped away on the second playoff hole, Gagan took Beck to another hole but that was as far as he could manage. Beck birdied the third playoff hole and clinched his maiden Asian Tour title.
Darren Beck: A worthy winner
Come to think of it, an almost win, a first for Muniyappa and a fairly good Sunday showing for Chiragh Kumar and Anirban Lahiri must be considered pretty satisfactory.
Oh, and if you had forgotten, Beck is the same guy who held the lead, ever so briefly, during the Indian Open when Liang Wen-chong decided to liven things up at the Delhi Golf Club. So, we will have to agree with Gagan when he says, “It was a long overdue win for Beck.”
And yes, before you sue us, the reference to Kapurthala is not an original. It was mouthed by Mr Wilkins, and it was surely cool enough to be aped.
Image courtesy: www.asiantour.com
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