Aman Raj seals hard-fought Golconda Masters win over Chandra

By Rahul Banerji

Aman Raj eked out a hard-fought one-shot Golconda Masters victory over the charging Yashas Chandra at the HGC course in Hyderabad on Saturday.

The dapper Patna golfer battled to a final round of 2-under 68 for an 18-under 262 total, marginally ahead of Chandra’s 17-under 263 that was built around a closing 5 under 65.

Aman Raj (66-65-63-68), overnight leader by one shot, took home a Rs 15 lakh cheque to consolidate second place on the Tata Steel PGTI Rankings while Mysore’s Chabdra had cards of 63, 67, 68 and 65 in his chase.

Raj began with a birdie but then had a topsy-turvy front nine as he had one more birdie against two dropped shots, one a result of sending his tee shot out of bounds.

Aman then managed to regain focus back on the back nine with three birdies to keep his nose ahead of the pack.

Close stuff

Another Aman bogey on 16allowed Chandra to close right up, just one shot behind but Aman managed to hold on without further damage with solid pars on the last two holes including a nervy four-foot putt for victory on 18.

Aman, who bagged his third career title and a second for the season, said later, “I just wanted to play my game today and not think about anything else.

“Had the ideal start with a birdie on the first but the momentum just slowed down for me thereafter. I knew that things were not going as per my plan and had to just hang in there.

“The birdies on 13 and 14 gave me a much-needed boost. Finally, when I was looking at the putt to win on the last hole, I told myself just to follow the process and not think about the result.

Mentally strong

“I’m in a very good mental space at the moment and that has contributed to my great results this year. Importantly, I took it one shot at a time today and didn’t lose focus despite a rollercoaster day.”

Yashas Chandra’s 65 featured an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys. He took home the runner-up prize of Rs. 10 lakh which helped him climb from 30^th to 10^th on the money list.

Early leader Akshay Sharma and Sachin Baisoya shot 69s to share third place on 16-under 264.

Om Prakash Chouhan’s (64) tied fifth finish on 14-under 266 meant that he extends his Order of Merit lead.

Angad Cheema fired the last day’s best of 63 to end the week in eighth place on 13-under 267 while local lad Mohd Azhar finished tied 18^th on 8 under 272.

Final top four

262: Aman Raj (66-65-63-68)

263: Yashas Chandra (63-67-68-65)

264: Akshay Sharma (61-65-69-69); Sachin Baisoya (66-61-68-69)

Also read: Aman Raj storms into third-round lead at Golconda Masters