2008 Johnnie Walker Classic

New Zealander, Mark Brown, made five scintillating birdies in the back nine of the DLF Golf and Country Club course and managed to subdue a determined Taichiro Kiyota, to claim the 2008 Johnnie Walker Classic, his second title in a matter of days!

The man, who turned his back on the sport for over three years due to poor form, returned to the fairways with a vengeance. His 5 under par 67 propelled him to the top of the leaderboard and he ended the week-end with a very respectable 18 under 270, three shots clear of Australians Greg Chalmers, Scott Strange and Kiyota from Japan.

Trailing the overnight leader, Kiyota, by four strokes going into the final nine, Brown must have thought he was done and dusted. He somehow managed to put four successive birdies together from the 12^th hole and whether his stellar performance had anything to do with it, expected champion, Kiyota, began to fade and fade fast.

Brown nearly made a hash of things on the 18^th when he misfired with his second shot, almost finding the water, but the gods of the greens were clearly on his side in India, granting him a successive title on the Asian Tour. A few days prior to his ‘birdie exhibition’ in New Delhi, he had claimed the SAIL Open, his maiden win of the tour.

The strong South African contingent that dominated the 2007 event were nowhere to be seen and instead of having 5 countrymen, including majors winners Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, in the top 10, the closest South African to the title was James Kamte, who tied 34^th. Defending champion, Anton Haig had a dismal outing and ended the week-end tied 44^th.

2008 Johnnie Walker Classic Results: Top Ten Scores