Golfer Natarajan claims second National finals qualifying spot

Golfer Rajesh Natarajan claimed the second National finals spot, winning the city qualifiers of the Mercedes Trophy golf meet, it was announced on Thursday.

Rajesh returned a nett score of 71.8 to emerge victorious. He will now join actor R. Madhavan, who won on the first day.

Delighted after the win, Natarajan said: "I am very happy to win the qualifiers of such a prestigious event and look forward eagerly to the National Finals now. I thank Mercedes for the wonderful experience and we had a wonderful time here at the BPGC."

One more qualifier will be identified on Friday, the third and the final day of the of the Mumbai qualifiers

The best Gross Winner of the day was Akshay Kilachand who carded an excellent round of 76and there were a host of other prizes on offer to be won on the day.

Prominent winners included Devang Sharma who won the Ballantine's Long Drive Challenge with a long drive of 260 yards.

Aryanman Rajpurohit won the Mercedes-Benz Closest to Pin contest while the Mercedes-Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots was won by R. Ramakrishnan, who landed the ball 5 ft from the pin after two shots.

The format of play was Double Peoria. This unique format of adjusting handicaps of players levels the playing field enabling golfers to have a greater chance of qualifying for the National Finals.

--IANS

gau/dg