By Rahul Banerji
Manu Gandas racked up a four-shot victory with a dazzling final day performance at the Impiger Technologies presents Chennai Open at the TNGF Golf Course on Friday.
Riding his five-under 67 on the day, Gandas totaled 20-under 268 for the week at the Rs. 40 lakh event for his fourth PGTI trophy.
The 26-year-old from Gurgaon’s DLF Golf & Country Club also consolidated third place on the PGTI Order of Merit.
Overnight leader N. Thangaraja of Sri Lanka took second place on 16-under 272 with a final round effort of 72.
The heat and humidity of the morning were once again followed by overcast conditions with a gentle breeze in the afternoon
Gandas (68-65-68-67), overnight second, one shot off the lead, began with a chip-in birdie. He cut out the errors and stayed in play to make pars all the way till the eighth.
A second birdie came on the ninth where he rolled in a 10-footer after a poor chip.
On the back nine, Gandas missed some up and downs but managed to extend his lead with some excellent putting, making birdie conversions from a range of 20 to 30 feet on 13 and 16.
Closing it out
He closed out on the par-5 18th green reaching in two and two-putting for a closing birdie with no one in the chasing pack in sight for his third title of the year.
“The most important things for me over the last one year have been identifying my shortcomings and the consistency with which I’ve followed my processes,” Gandas said.
“Importantly, I took a month off from the game during the mid-season break to fully recover from my injuries and that really helped at the end.
“My driving and tee shots were the best aspect of my game this week. Today my wedge shots were not great but they kept me in play.
Clear focus
“I did well with the longer putts in the final round. I didn’t look at the leaderboard on day four but instead just focused on my target which was a total of 20-under. I finally managed to achieve it.”
Thangaraja (66-67-67-72), overnight leader by one shot, made a poor start with three bogeys on the front nine but came roaring back with three birdies on his way back to finish as the runner-up.
Khalin Joshi (68) of Bangalore and Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha (71) tied for third on 15-under 273.
Karandeep Kochhar (70), another Chandigarh-based pro, finished a further shot back to take fifth place.
Chennai-based professionals, Sandeep Syal and S. Prasanth, were tied 49th on five-over 293 and T52 on seven-over 295 respectively.
Also read: Thangaraja grabs pole in Chennai as Gandas, Chadha give chase
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