Chikkarangappa ( 69-72-70-68 ), who began the day six shots off the lead in third place , had a profitable front-nine as he scored birdies on the first , fourth and seventh thanks to his accurate approach shots and consistent putting .
The tournament witnessed a dramatic turn when Om Prakash Chouhan found the water hazard twice with his tee shot on the par-3 seventh hole which had an island green . Chouhan thus dropped a quadruple-bogey ( 7 ) there as his lead came down to just one shot .
The setback at a crucial time on the seventh took a toll on Chouhan ’ s game as he struggled on the greens thereafter missing short putts on the 10th , 11th and 17th for bogeys on all three holes that put him out of the contest .
Meanwhile , Chikka , who was three-under at the turn , seized the advantage as he added three more birdies on the back-nine at the cost of two bogeys to ease to victory . He sank a 15-footer for birdie on the 13th , an important 12-footer for bogey on the 14th and landed his approach within a few inches of the pin for birdie on the 17th .
Chikka , who earned five Official World Golf
Viraj Madappa - Runner-up
“ I recently met the legendary Rahul Dravid in Bengaluru who ’ s been my mentor for a long time . I told him my plans about how I ’ m working on my game and my fitness .
Ranking ( OWGR ) points for his win , as a result jumped 89 spots in the world ranking from 434 to 345 .
The extremely fit Chikka said , “ Overall , it was a great week for me as I didn ’ t shoot an overpar round despite the tough conditions at this venue . The win comes at an important stage for me as we ’ re in an Olympic year and the race for qualifying is on .
“ I recently met the legendary Rahul Dravid in Bengaluru who ’ s been my mentor for a long time . I told him my plans about how I ’ m working on my game and my fitness . He complimented me on my fitness and that was a big motivation for me . Just getting to meet him and talking to him has often helped my confidence .”
Viraj Madappa ’ s ( 69-74-74-65 ) brilliant 65 propelled him 14 places up the leaderboard to the second spot . Madappa , a winner on the Asian Tour , made a 30-feet eagle conversion on the 12th and also found the hole from 15 to 20 feet on the fourth and 11th . He recovered well from the trees on the 10th for another birdie . Viraj ’ s card featured four more birdies and two bogeys .
Om Prakash Chouhan equaled the course record with his first round of nine-under-63
Chikkarangappa - Winner
Earlier in the week , two records were equaled .
In round one , Om Prakash Chouhan shot a nine-under-63 to match Khalin Joshi ’ s previous course record which the latter had set in 2015 .
On the same day , 23-year-old rookie Jairaj Singh Sandhu of Chandigarh made a dream debut on the professional stage with an outstanding 66 that featured another recordequaling feat of three eagles in a round including a hole-in-one . The left-handed Sandhu , playing the first ever round of his professional career , sank three eagles to equal the PGTI record previously jointly held by two-time Indian Open champion Ali Sher , Veer Ahlawat and Yashas Chandra MS .
GolfPlus MARCH 2021 67