By IANS
Gurgaon : Asian Games hero Anirban Lahiri signalled his arrival on the professional stage with a whopping six-shot triumph in the final stage of the Professional Golfers Tour of India (PGTI) Tour's Qualifying School here Saturday.
Lahiri, 20, who led from the start, finished with an even par round of 72 despite bogeys on his last three holes at the Golden Greens Golf and Country Club. His final tally was seven under 281.
The consistent Lahiri, who has chosen to retain his amateur status till October when he forms part of the Indian team at the prestigious Nomura Cup for amateurs, scored par or under on all four days – 71, 68, 70, 72.
Raj Randhawa finished second with a fine round of three under 69 for a tally of one under 287 (72, 70, 76, 69) over four days while Feroz Ali Mollah was third with an overall three over 291 (74, 71, 74, 72).
The final group of the Qualifying School may well be a look into the future as Lahiri played alongside two other talented youngsters, Randhawa and Ranjit Singh, who took their first steps from amateur to professional ranks.
Ranjit finished fourth, one shot behind Feroze Ali.
Bangladesh's Mohammed Siddiquir Rahman (73), who won the All India amateur title last year and turned professional at the Colour Plus Open, the last event on 2006-07 season, finished fifth while his fellow golfer from Dhaka, Matloob Rana (77), was tied seventh.
Two other qualifiers who turn professional with this event are Balvinder Singh Mattu (77) and Arshpreet Thind (80) who were both tied 20th at 19 over 307.
On a slightly humid day, which nevertheless had some breeze, a total of 48 players earned the full card and rights to play the 2007-08 season.
Lahiri had three birdies and no bogeys on the front nine and then he parred next six from the 10th to 15th. After the 15th, he was 10 shots ahead of his playing partner Randhawa.
Then Lahiri ran into three bogeys in a row from 16th to 18th, while Randhawa birdied the 18th to reduce the gap to six.
Experienced Feroze Ali, who won a tournament on the Malaysian Tour last month, gave the youngsters something to think about as he added a final round of 72 and finished third with a total of three-over 291.
Ranjit, who won the second stage of the Qualifying School last week, had a miserable start with three bogeys in a row and finished with a 74 that saw him end at four-over 292 at fourth.
Lahiri, who earned an exemption into the final stage by virtue of his top ranking in amateur ranks, was a member of the 2006 Asian Games team that grabbed a silver medal.
Two of the four members of that team – Gaganjeet Bhullar and Chiragh Kumar – have already turned professional, while Joseph Chakola will be the only one to remain amateur.
With Lahiri retaining his amateur status for the next few months, the top cheque of Rs.50,000 went to Randhawa and it was also his first payday as a professional.
Feroze Ali picked up Rs.37,500 while Ranjit earned his first cheque of Rs.27,500.
A total purse of Rs.250,000 was made available at the Qualifying School for the first time ever and the top 15 earned money.
The 2007-08 Indian season is expected to have a prize purse of more than Rs.80 million. In 2006,07, the PGTI Tour had on offer Rs.46 million in just 10 events. Nine foreign players finished in the top 48 and another five hold cards from their rankings on Order of Merit from 2006-07.
Following are the top-48 who earned full cards for 2007-08 PGTI's Tour:
* 281 Anirban Lahiri 71, 68, 70, 72
* 287 Raj Randhawa 72, 70, 76, 69
* 291 Feroz Ali Mollah 74, 71, 74, 72
* 292 Ranjit Singh 73, 69, 76, 74
* 294 M. Siddiqur Rahman 72, 74, 75, 73
* 297 Dinesh Kumar 75, 72, 79, 71
* 298 M. Dharma 73, 76, 74, 75 and Matloob Ahmed Rana 73, 73, 75, 77
* 299 Drew Edwin Dubberlin 79, 72, 73, 75
* 300 Sheeraz Kalra 74, 73, 77, 76
* 302 Craig Mclean 76, 73, 79, 74 and Abhishek Ahlawat 73, 77, 75, 77
* 303 Shaurya Singh 80, 73, 77, 73; Jaideep Patwardhan 75, 71, 82, 75 and Chia Hao Hsu 73, 74, 77, 79
* 304 Anirudh Goyal 77, 75, 77, 75
* 305 Gaurav Pratap Singh 79, 76, 81, 69 and Maniram Sharma 73, 74, 78, 80
* 306 Dayal Singh 73, 76, 78, 79
* 307 Shiva Ram Shrestha 75,78, 80, 74; Raju James Joseph 76, 82, 72, 77; Balvinder Singh Mattu 72, 76, 81, 78 and Arshpreet Thind 75,75, 77, 80
* 308 M. Nawab 76, 73, 81, 78
* 309 R. Murthy 78, 79, 79, 73 and Davendra Patel 74, 73, 77, 85
* 310 Amit Dube 73, 80, 80, 77; S.K. Patal 74, 76, 83, 77; Monish Bindra 79, 74, 77, 80 and Chitrajit Kalra 76, 79, 70, 85
* 311 Vishal Singh 79, 81, 78, 73; Bhoop Singh 81, 77, 76, 77 and Mohammed Yamin 78, 73, 83, 77
* 312 Varun Sahay 85, 76, 76, 75; Raghav Wahi 76, 77, 82, 77; Christopher Hynes 74, 78, 82, 78 and Shahid Javed Khan 76, 77, 80, 79
* 313 C. Kumar 80, 81, 75, 77 and Ramesh Kumar 80, 77, 79, 77
* 314 Kunal Balhara 76, 84, 79, 75; Tze Shyan Lu 80, 77, 79, 78 and Rohit Chaudhary 77, 75, 81, 81
* 315 Neil Ashok Mundra 80,78, 79, 78; Rajiv Niranjan Datar 84, 74, 77, 80 and Wilson Raj D'mello 73,81,81, 80
* 316 Suleman Ali 74, 77, 87, 78 and Gursimran Singh Sethi 77, 78, 81, 80
317 Peter Inbaraj 77, 79, 80, 81