By Rahul Banerji
Om Prakash Chouhan held his nerve when it counted most to land his seventh title in the Jaipur Open at Rambagh Golf Club on Saturday.
The 36-year-old Chouhan (67-66-65-64), lying second and two off the lead after round three, made the most of his short game to come home by one shot from overnight leader Abhijit Singh Chadha.
Chouhan returned the day’s best card – a six-under-par 64 – to finish on 18-under 262 and take home a cheque worth Rs. 600,000, the PGTI said.
The result moved the Mhow golfer up from 18th to eighth place in the Order of Merit.
Chadha (62-69-65-67), ahead by two shots overnight, struck a flawless 67 despite the putts not rolling in for him on Saturday.
The Chandigarh golfer took the runner-up spot on 17-under 263 at the Rs. 40 lakh event.
Akshay Sharma (67), another Chandigarh golfer, was third on 13-under 267. Faridabad’s Abhinav Lohan (68) and Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain (69) finished a further shot back for tied fourth place.
Local professional Girraj Singh Khadka was tied 29th at one-under 279 while Jaipur’s Manoviraj Shekhawat, the only amateur to make the cut, finished 50th at 11-over 291.
Early charge
Chouhan took control early on Saturday with five birdies over the first eight holes to move into the sole lead.
He made his sixth chip-in of the tournament on the seventh hole and set up the other birdies also as a result of good wedge play.
The day’s leader then hit a rough patch with consecutive three-putts for bogey on nine and 10 that saw him slip back into second place behind Chadha.
However, the man from Mhow who last won on the PGTI in February 2021, got back on level terms with a birdie on 12.
Om Prakash’s short game came to his rescue once again when he made under-pressure chip-putt birdies on 17 and 18 to seal the win.
“I was feeling the pressure at the start of the day as I was two shots behind but I got into my rhythm with those five birdies on the first eight holes,” Chouhan said later.
“After those two three-putts, a good chip-putt for par on 11 and birdie on 12 helped me relax. The other good par save from a chip-putt came on 15 which gave me the confidence to finish well.
“My game had suffered because I had stopped using the lob wedge. My brother who caddied for me in Chennai advised me to get back to using the lob wedge as it had always been my strength.
Strong point
“So I got back to that club this week and that contributed to my excellent chipping here in Jaipur.
“The Rambagh Golf Club is a lot like my original home course in Mhow with similar conditions. So I always feel at home playing here in Jaipur which added to my self-belief today.
“I recently got a new sponsor so that too has helped me relax while I’m playing,” Chouhan added.
Chadha sank three birdies and kept the errors off his card but he couldn’t catch up with the leader as the putts didn’t fall for him in the latter stages of the round.
Also read: Abhijit Chadha back in Jaipur Open lead with 5-under third round
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