Kolkata: Ashbeer Saini beat Delhi golfer Honey Baisoya on the fourth play-off hole in the Goodricke Eastern India strokeplay 2011 at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club on Tuesday. Saini, seen as one of the most promising youngsters from Northern India, hails from Kapurthala, the same town as Gaganjeet Bhullar. He carded a second round of 70 with four birdies and two bogeys for a total of 143. He had a round of 73 on Monday. Baisoya from Delhi scored 73 after his first round 70.
In the play-off that ensued the duo had identical par, par and bogey. Then on the fourth play-off hole, Saini parred while Baisoya faltered with a bogey.
SK Pappu (73-72) and S Chikkrangappa (71-74) were tied for third at 145 and Trishul Chinappa was fifth at 146. Khalin Joshi, Manav Das and Vikram Rana were tied for sixth 147.
The top-32 players qualified for the Match-play, which follows the stroke play competition. Matchplay begins on Wednesday and will end on Christmas Day.
With Sidharth Semwal, a strong player from Army Golf Club in Delhi, it will be a tough starter for Ashbeer Saini. Semwal qualified as the 32nd player after winning a play-off with RCGC duo Suraj Ali and Tutul Ali at 160.
In some of the other matches Honey Baisoya will be up against Lakhan Singh in the first round of Matchplay. Chikka will meet SK Samir and Khalin Joshi meets Surya PR.
