Chowrasia scales to the top of PGTI Order of Merit

Bangalore, Feb 26 (UNI) Kolkata based S S P Chowrasia, despite finishing second in the Solaris Global Green Open Golf tournament here yesterday, has emerged as the topper of PGTI Order of Merit 2006-07 with an earning of Rs 16,67,000.

''I am thrilled to be in a position to lead the 2006-07 Order of Merit, as competition is very tough now as we are playing for big money each week and there is more depth on the tour. There are a lot of professionals who have the ability and the skills to be able to win, which makes it even tougher,'' said Chowrasia. ''However, I am sure it will make me work even harder,'' the 28-year-old professional said.

The Rs 60 Lakh Solaris Global Green Open Golf played an important role in deciding the rankings on the Order of Merit as Ashok Kumar, who took home the winner's cheque of Rs 9,72,000 moved up to second place with earnings of Rs 15,26,000.

''It is an added bonus for me to be ranked so high and amongst some of the leading professional golfers of the country,'' said Ashok.

Meanwhile, Harmeet Kahlon moved to third place with earnings of Rs 12,51,000 after five tournaments on the PGTI calendar. ''I will continue to work harder and hope to improve my position in the coming weeks as we have a lot of big tournaments yet to come,'' said the Chandigarh professional.

The 50th ranked professional on the PGTI tour Mondeo Pathania has earned Rs 1,15,250 so far already this season and with numerous more tournaments scheduled in the coming months, this figure is set to grow tremendously.

''The players are happy with the prize money on offer and that is what the PGTI set out to achieve. We still have many big tournaments lined up before the season winds up, so we should see some record earnings on the domestic tour this year,'' said Ajai Gupta, Tour Commissioner, PGTI.

2006-07 PGTI ORDER OF MERIT: 1. SSP Chowrasia (Rs.16,67,000); 2. Ashok Kumar (Rs.15 ,26,000); 3. Harmeet Kahlon ( Rs.12,51,000); 4. Jyoti Randhawa (Rs.11,34,000); 5. Digvijay Singh (Rs.10,22,500); 6. Lam Chih Bing (Rs.8,35,900); 7. C Muniyappa (Rs.7,12,400); 8.

Vivek Bhandari (Rs.6.89,100); 9.Rahul Ganapathy ( Rs.5,94,000); 10.

Harinder Gupta ( Rs.4,97,800) UNI