New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) After having enjoyed a great run in the second half of 2009 LG Amateur Tour, young golfer Rashid Khan heads into the new year with a massive lead on top of the LG Order of Merit list. With a total of 392 points, Rashid is 145 points clear of the next best player.
The Delhi lad has won the last five tournaments he has played on the LG Amateur Tour, which includes two back-to-back wins in Kolkata in the last week of December.

Rahul Bajaj moved into second place with 247 points. Bajaj overtook Gagan Verma on the virtue of reaching the final at the LG Goodricke Eastern India Amateur after having secured the last available berth in the main draw. Gagan is behind him in third place with a total of 230 points.

Another Delhi player Karan Vasudeva is in distant fourth place, nearly sixty points behind, and has only half a point edge over Abhijit Chadha. The Chandigarh lad Chadha made an entry into the top-10 following his maiden victory in the LG Gujarat Open which was held for the first time in the state of Gujarat. Abhinav Lohan also continued his steady rise on Tour and occupies the sixth place on the merit list.

Leading players on the LG Amateur Tour - Abhishek Jha and Arshdeep Tiwana - graduated to the professional circuit thus opening up the race for the players looking to make it to the higher rungs on the merit list to be in contention to qualify for the trials for the Indian Team for the 2010 Asian Games.

With only two tournaments left on Tour this season, Rashid looks set to top the merit list for the second year running, after having climbed to top spot with a win in the last tournament in Jaipur in the 2008-09 season. The players will now head to the same venue for the penultimate tournament of the season before the 109th edition of the LG All-India Amateur tees off in Pune next month.

It is also for the first time that the city will host the All-India to be played at the newly opened Oxford Golf & Country Club.