By Rahul Banerji
Karan Pratap Singh made up for his miss in Noida last week by going one better at the Chandigarh Golf Club on Saturday.
Having finished second in a playoff at the NGC, the young Faridabad golfer made sure there would be slip-ups this time at the PGTI Players Championship with a one-shot victory at the Rs 1 crore event.
Karan Pratap needed to hold his nerve till the very last to beat back Om Prakash Chouhan and Arjun Sharma, and will mark this second half of April as a turning point in his young career.
Sitting two off the lead in second, Karan Pratap (70-70-68-70) — a DLF Golf Academy student with Mohd Yamin — posted a solid two-under 70 on day four to tally 10-under 278, the PGTI said.
Ahmedabad-based Chouhan (72-70-69-68), winner of a Challenge Tour event in Bangalore last month and Sharma (71-68-70-70) of Greater Noida finished on nine-under 279.
Key errors
Overnight leader Jamal Hossain saw his chances slip away around the turn. Playing in the lead group, the Dhaka golfer dropped three shots in a row on holes 8, 9 and 10.
Three birdies thereafter were not enough to bring the 38-year-old back into play as he would drop a further two shots on the back nine even a Karan Pratap, Chouhan and Sharma pulled away.
Karan Pratap had an action-packed front nine, making four birdies and three bogeys.
Singh’s 30-foot birdie conversion on hole three and a perfect 9 iron tee shot on eight where he narrowly missed a hole-in-one were his standout moments on the front nine.
The bespectacled Karan, who uses the less popular claw grip on his putter kept himself in contention on a busy leaderboard with a birdie and bogey till 15.
He finally broke away from the pack with a chip-putt for birdie on 17 and then almost repeated the feat after missing the green on 18 to come home the champion.
Karan Pratap who turned professional in 2019, took home a winner’s cheque worth Rs. 15 lakh to climb from sixth to third in the Tata Steel PGTI Rankings.
Karan said, “It was great to finally get the job done especially after coming so close and losing out in the playoff last week.
Turning point
“The turning point for me today was the birdie on the eighth hole where I nearly made a hole-in-one.
“There was a two-shot swing in my favour on the eighth as I sank a birdie there while Jamal dropped a bogey. That helped me tie Jamal for the lead.
“Once tied for the lead, I was confident of my chances. Despite the tight contest, my self-belief grew after the birdie on the 13th.
“It’s an amazing feeling to win my first title. I’ve been playing well since the start of the year and have had good results.
“This win is all the more important for me as I missed the second half of last season due to a knee injury.
“I switched to the claw grip on my putter last year. This change in my putting grip has really suited my game and has helped me putt better.”
Good haul
The seasoned Chouhan, a contender for much of the day, mixed six birdies and two bogeys in the day’s best card of 68. He also extended his lead in the Order of Merit and has crossed the RS 50 lakh mark.
Sharma had a slow start with a solitary bogey on the front nine before he raced into contention with three birdies on the way back.
Arjun, a runner-up on the PGTI last year, missed out on a birdie opportunity on 18 while Delhi’s Kapil Kumar (71) shared fourth place with Jamal on eight-under 280.
Jairaj Singh Sandhu (72) and Harendra Gupta (73) were the two Chandigarh golfers who finished inside the top 10, tied sixth on six-under 282.
Round 4 leaderboard
278: Karan Pratap Singh (70-70-68-70)
279: Om Prakash Chouhan (72-70-69-68), Arjun Sharma (71-68-70-70)
280: Kapil Kumar (72-68-69-71), Jamal Hossain (70-67-69-74)
Also read: Jamal Hossain fires steady 69 to maintain Players C’ship lead
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