Randhawa blows it away, signs off tied ninth at Shanghai

Shanghai, Nov 12 (UNI) Form deserted Jyoti Randhawa when he needed it the most and the Indian carded a horrendous three-over 75 in the final round to finish tied ninth in the five million dollar Champions tournament here today.

Randhawa, who was leading after the first two rounds, blew away his chances of winning Asia's richest prize and finished with a total of seven-under 281, seven shots behind eventual winner Yang Yong-Eun of South Korea, who beat world number one Tiger Woods by two strokes.

The Indian got off to a poor start as he dropped a shot on the very first hole but made up for the lapse by hitting a birdie on the third. Randhawa then lost his way and a dropped shot on the fourth was followed by a double bogey on the sixth.

Three-over at the halfway mark, the Indian continued to struggle and stumbled to a bogey on the 13th before hitting a last hole birdie to end the otherwise disappointing day on a bright note.

Among the other Indians in the fray, Jeev Milkha Singh dropped to tied 17th after an eventful one-over 73, which took his tally to five-under 283. The Asian Tour UBS Order of Merit leader played out a near perfect front nine studded with three birdies but was undone by a rather ordinary back nine in which he dropped three shots against a lone birdie.

The talented Shiv Kapur's (72) performance was also marred by a poor back nine as he finished tied 18th with a total of four-under 284, three shot ahead of Gaurav Ghei (74), who finished tied 26th.

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