By Rahul Banerji
Sub-par scores and repeat winners with consistent performances were the highlight of the second leg of the US Kids Golf North at the Classic Golf and Country Club last week.
The standout performances of the double leg of the US Kids Golf this week came from Guntas Kaur Sandhu in the Girls 11-12 and Amaira G. Gulati in the Girls 8 categories.
Overall, there were seven repeat winners with three in the boys section and four among girls. Punjab and Chandigarh golfers were once again at the forefront with four titles, the same as Delhi.
The repeat winners in the boys were in the three youngest categories. Ranveer Baloria (Boys 6), Zorawar Singh Chahal (Boys 7) and Divjot Kumar Gupta (Boys 8) maintained their winning runs.
Among the girls, Amaira, Aanya Dandriyal, this time sharing the Girls 9-10 honours with Aaradhaya Rawat, Guntas and Ayesha Gupta in Girls 13-14 made it back-to-back wins.
Good run
Amaira, the tiny tot, who has been having a great run over the last couple of years, and despite little time to practice at the venue, she won twice in succession with scores of 3-under 33 and 2-under 34 in her nine-hole competitions.
Chandigarh’s Guntas, who won the first leg with 3-under 69, had the best under par score in the second leg on 4-under 68.
Guntas had a sedate first nine, which was on the front side of the course. Starting on the 10th, she birdied early and pared the others as she turned in 1-under.
On her second nine, the Chandigarh golfer again birdied early but dropped a shot four holes later. Thereafter, she birdied three of the last four holes for a convincing second win.
Danish Verma of Ludhiana was among the impressive winners in the boy’s sections.
Bouncing back
After finishing second to Chaitanya Pandey, he turned the tables in the second leg. Danish shot 3-under 69 and Chaitanya fought well with a 70.
The duo holed a bagful of birdies with Danish getting five against two bogeys. Chaitanya had seven birdies, as against five a day earlier. He also dropped three shots and a double bogey.
Prince Bainsla, runner-up in the first leg, won the second with a 69 that began slowly with just one bogey in the first 10 holes.
He birdied 11 to get to even par and had a went on of four birdies. Despite a closing bogey, he won by a shot over Ayan Dubey (70), who finished birdie-birdie. Ayan’s brother Anshh, who won the first leg, had an off day and was ninth.
Adit Veeramachaneni, one of the stars of the 2022 season, returned to winning ways with a superb second nine that had four birdies in his 72. He beat first leg winner, Sohraab Singh Talwar (73) by one shot.
Consistent run
Divjot (Boys 8) kept his errors to just two bogeys, though he had no birdies, to win his second title.
Runner-up Avviraaj Kalia had a roller-coaster with three birdies and six bogeys in his nine holes, which meant he had no pars.
Rajesh Srivastava, President of US Kids Golf India and Asia, said, “We are thrilled with the quality of the golf with low scores and intense competition we have seen in the first two legs.
“We are looking forward to more as the remaining four legs in North and six each in South and West get underway soon.”
Second leg results
Boys 6 (9 holes): 1. Ranveer Baloria (Del) 49; 2. Siddhik Chaturvedi (Noida) 60
Boys 7 (9 holes): 1. Zorawar Singh Chahal (Mohali) 42; T2. Kabir Kanwar (Noida) 43; T2. Samar Singh (Gur) 43
Boys 8 (9 holes): 1. Divjot Kumar Gupta (Jal) 38; 2. Avviraaj Kalia (Faridabad) 39; 3. Upraj SIngh Mehdiratta (Mohali) 41
Boys 10: 1. Adit Veeramachaneni (Bang) 72; 2. Sohraab Singh Talwar (Mohali, Pb) 73; 3. Arnav Kumar (Jalandhar) 76
Boys 11: 1. Aditya Mishra (Del) 73; 2. Raajveer Suri (Noida) 76; 3. Vidit Aggarwal (Del) 77.
Boys 12: 1. Danish Verma (Ludhiana) 69; 2. Chaitanya Pandey (Del) 70 (-2); 2. Devvrat Singh Rajawat (Jaipur) 76
Boys 13-14: 1. Prince Bainsla (Palwal) 69; 2. Ayan Dubey (Gautam Budha Nagar) 70); 3. Sohang Har Kantor (Noida) 73
Boys 15-18: 1. Vihaan Malhotra (Del) 75; 2. Anshul Bhati (Greater Noida) 75; 2.; 3. Aftab Singh Bakshi (Del) 75
Girls 8: Amaira Gulati (Lucknow) 34 (-3); 2. Gairat Kaur Kahlon (Mohali) 35; 3. Abbakka Rawat Chettri (Gr Noida) 49.
Girls 9-10: T1. Aanya Dandriyal (Gr. Noida) 81; T1 Aaradhaya Rawat 81
Girls 11-12: 1. Guntas Kaur Sandhu (Chd) 68; T2. Shambhavi Chaturvedi (Noida) 72; T2. Rabab Kahlon (Mohali) 72
Girls 13-14: 1. Ayesha Gupta (Del) 74; T2. Myra Kumar (Delhi) 79; T2. Parnika Sharma (Noida) 79
Also read: Punjab golfers hold the spotlight in first leg of US Kids Golf North
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