Chikkarangappa wins Southern India Amateur Golf title
June 24th, 2011 - 9:36 pm ICT by IANSBangalore, June 24 (IANS) National champion S. Chikkarangappa produced his best when it mattered most with a two-under 70 to emerge a five-shot winner over Khalin Joshi (77) at the Southern India Amateur Golf tournament here Friday.
Chikkarangappa, who earlier this month won the Inter-State title to go with All India Amateur Championships in February, totalled one-over 289. Joshi, who was Chikkarangappa’s teammate when the pair won the team title earlier this month, finished second at 294.
Asian Games silver medallist Abhijit Chadha (73) finished third at 295, while Delhi’s Kanishk Madan (76) was fourth and another Asiad silver medallist Rahul Bajaj (73) was fifth at 296. Trishul Chinappa (76) finished sixth at 299.
Chikkarangappa, trailing by two at the start of the final day, had a birdie on the second, but his playing partner Joshi birdied both the first and second to extend his lead. But Joshi’s bogey on fourth and double bogey on fifth allowed Chikkarangappa to get back into the fray despite the latter’s bogey on fifth. At that stage the lead was down to one.
Then Joshi seemed to fall apart with bogeys on seventh and ninth, while Chikkarangappabirdied eighth. The overnight lead of three for Joshi suddenly became a deficit of one for him.
On the back nine, Chikkarangappa birdied the tenth and 11th, while Joshi was three-over for the back nine. Chikkarangappa did drop a shot on par-5 14th, but by then Chikka was on his way home with the title.
“I am very happy with the way I won today. I did not think I would win by five-shots but somewhere the confidence of winning was always there. The point where I realized the title was in my hands was the eighth hole. I holed 30-footer from off the green and made a birdie. That was one of my best birdies. Also, I was kicking my putter on the last three days and I actually kissed it this morning,” said Chikkarangappa.
The win earned Chikka 50 points on the Indian Golf Union (IGU) Order of Merit and he moved further ahead of the field in the race to bag the honours for the season.
- Khalin moves ahead of Chikka at Southern India Amateur golf - Jun 23, 2011
- Syed Saqib wins North India golf title - Mar 16, 2012
- Chikka rallies in final round; wins individual, team Inter-state golf titles - Jun 17, 2011
- Chikkarangappa in lead at Southern India Amateur golf - Jun 22, 2011
- Maharashtra Open: Mane shoots 65, takes lead - Oct 26, 2011
- Chikka takes two-shot lead in North India golf - Mar 15, 2012
- Delhi's Semwal leads in Inter-state golf - Jun 14, 2011
- Chadha moves to top, Chikka lying second at Inter State Golf - Jun 16, 2011
- Baisoya, Bhandari top strokeplay in All India Amateur golf - Jan 18, 2012
- Khalin beats Chikka to win Samarvir Sahi golf - Mar 02, 2012
- Chikka stays in lead at Samarvir Sahi golf - Feb 29, 2012
- Joshi wins strokeplay in All India Amateur golf - Feb 02, 2011
- Chikkarangappa takes lead at Southern India Amateur golf - Jun 21, 2011
- Chikka leads Jasjit by three shots in Samarvir Sahi golf - Feb 28, 2012
- India complete double as Manav, Anisha win titles at Bangladesh Open golf - Feb 04, 2012
Tags: abhijit, amateur championships, amateur golf tournament, asian games, birdie, birdies, bogeys, chadha, double bogey, eighth hole, five shots, golf title, golf union, inter state, joshi, madan, national champion, silver medallist, southern india, trishul