NEW DELHI, India – Feb. 22, 2005 – Team India cruised to a comfortable win over Pakistan at the Indo-Pak Golf Dil Se (from the heart) event played at the Arnold Palmer designed DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi on Saturday. The hosts won the two-day event at a score-line of 8.5 to 4.5 points.

The second day’s contest played on a four-ball, better-ball match-play format was dominated by Pakistan who won five of the eight matches, however, India nudged ahead thanks to their opening day, stroke-play performance which earned them five points.
The prizes were given away jointly by Pakistan High Commissioner Mr. Aziz Ahmed Khan and Chairman Bharti Enterprises - Mr. Sunil Mittal at a grand prize distribution ceremony held at the DLF Golf & Country Club, immediately after the event.

In the match-play contest, all the matches went down to the wire. The opening match witnessed Fayyaz Raja and Wadood Afridi beat the duo of construction magnate - KP Singh and IGU President - Prakash Bhandari on the 18th hole. Team Shafique Haider and Abbaz Mirza nudged ahead of the team of Dr Farooq Abdullah and Indian Captain Ranji Chaudhri, also on the 18th hole, while Omer Faruque and Arshan Khan got the better of Ranjan Bhattacharya and Parminder Singh yet again on the 18th hole. Of the next five contests, Pakistan went on to win two more while India managed three wins.

India’s first triumph came when Sanjeev Talwar and Rattan Jindal outplayed legendary Pakistani amateur Taimur Hassan and Syed Aqdas Ahmad on the 18th hole. Captain Delhi Golf Club Manjit Singh and Arun Sethi then registered the second win for the hosts when they pulled the rug from under the feet of Fakhari Siddiqui and Hashim Khan by a margin of 2 & 1. Kapil Channa and Rana Talwar won for India its third match by beating Ijaz Saddozai and Zareef Malik, 2 & 1.

In the other contests, the Best Individual Gross Score was returned by five time Indian national champion, Ashok Malik, while the Best Individual Stableford Score (Overall) was pocketed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah. The Longest Drive (Overall) was registered by Pakistan’s Aqdas Ahmed while Hashim Khan, also from Pakistan won the Closest to the Pin (Overall) prize. The team of Manjit Singh and Arun Seth were declared the winning pair at the Shortest match.

Titled Golf Dil Se, the tournament was an initiative on the part of a few golf lovers from the capital to unite two cultures and peoples through the medium of India’s fastest growing sport. Golf with its unique handicapping system is a unifying factor world-wide as it enables people of all ages and proficiencies to compete on one platform. The list of participants at the Golf Dil Se event proves this fact and it is through this very aspect that Golf Dil Se aims to bring together the two nations which are bound by a common culture and the warmth of our hearts.

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