Veteran Vijay Kumar held himself together at crucial stages, even as his younger rivals faltered on the final day, to win the Rs 45-lakh Amby Valley PGA Championship of India, promoted by the PGA of India and supported by Tiger Sports Marketing, by two strokes.
With Vijay winning the year's final title, and Mukesh winning the Money List, the veterans stole a march over the younger Shiv Kapur and Ashok Kumar.
Vijay's purse of Rs, 7,29,000 saw him vault past Shiv Kapur and Ashok Kumar on the money list and finish second to Mukesh, who amassed over Rs 26 lakh for a new landmark in Indian golf.
Vijay, with just over Rs 17 lakh, was second, while Shiv was third with Rs 16.32 lakh and Ashok Kumar fourth with Rs 15.78 lakh.
Vijay, who began the day with a three-shot lead, was given a hard chase by his rivals, Shiv Kapur and Ashok Kumar, while one flight behind was Shiv Shankar Prasad Chaurasia, who too, raised visions of an unexpected victory.
Interestingly, all three players in the lead group finished with over par scores, while Chaurasia turned in a card of two-under 70. Vijay, despite his final round of 74, ended with a 10-under 278, while Shiv Kapur (73) converted a tense par putt from eight feet to get into a tie with Chaurasia for second.
Ashok Kumar (73) just did not have things going his way and finished fourth.
Gaurav Ghei brought in the day's best of 68 to jump to fifth, while Mukesh, winner of the Money List by a huge margin, carded a one-under 71, his third such card in four days, for the sixth place.
Amandeep Johl overcame the agony of a quadruple bogey on the par-five seventh hole to card 76 and ended tied seventh with Rahil Gangjee, who had a final round of three-under 69.
Jaideep Patwardhan was the best amateur with a total of 306 after a final round of 81.
Leading final scores (Pros): 278 Vijay Kumar (70, 68, 66, 74); 280 Shiv Kapur (65, 72, 70, 73) and SSP Chowrasia (70, 71, 69, 70); 281 Ashok Kumar (69,67, 72, 73); 283 Gaurav Ghei (70, 69, 76, 68); 286 Mukesh Kumar (71, 73, 71, 71), 287 Amandeep Johl (71, 69, 71, 76); Rahil Gangjee (72, 76, 70, 69); 288 R A Anura Rohana (71, 75, 72, 70); Arjun Singh (68, 72, 74, 74); 289 DInesh Kumar (72, 73, 72, 71); S Madaiah (72, 72, 72, 73); 290 Feroz Ali Mollah (79, 67, 72, 72); Harinder Gupta (70, 72, 69, 79), 292 Shamim Khan (72, 67, 73, 80); 293 Digvijay Singh (78, 72, 72, 71); A S Lehal (73, 75, 72, 73); Vivek Bhandari (72, 72, 73, 76); 294 Sanjay Kumar (73, 74, 73, 74); Randhir Singh Ghotra (72, 74, 74, 74); Amardip Singh Malik (72, 75, 72, 75); US Mundy (73, 71, 72, 78).
Amateurs: 306 Jaideep Patwardhan (72, 71, 82, 81); 318 Amit Nigam (81, 77, 77, 83).
