Noida GC pros make a point at Classic International C’ship

By Rahul Banerji

At one point on the final day of the $300,000 Classic GCC International Championship, it looked as though Amardip Malik would bring home a top-25 finish in a field that contained numerous not just domestic but also Asian Tour winners.

 A 2-under par front nine saw the Noida Golf Course professional well placed to strike at a best-ever finish at the Asian level. He would pick up a further shot before disaster struck in the form of a sudden thunderstorm.

In the next four holes, Malik dropped four shots, a bogey, a double and another bogey as the rain threw his game-plan off. He would recover well with one final birdie but that top 25 that had beckoned him had gone on a tightly-packed leader-board.

Maxing opportunity

Malik however, will remember the Jack Nicklaus-designed Classic course fondly as will another NGC professional, Gaurav Pratap Singh. Both had qualified on the basis of their placings in the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School Finals, and made good use of the opportunity.

For his part, Gaurav Pratap scrambled home with a four-day aggregate of level par 288, while Malik had a share of 37^th place on 7-under 281. Malik, a two-time winner on the domestic PGTI with both titles coming at his home Noida Golf Club, had rounds of 69, 74, 67 and 71, while Gaurav Pratap’s card read 72, 70, 76, 70.

In all, 37 Indians finished in the money rounds over the last weekend out of the 75 who survived the cut. Four, led by joint runner-up Rashid Khan were in the top-10 including Aadil Bedi (4^th), and Aman Raj and Abhijit Chadha (T5).

A further six were between 10^th and 20^th in the form of Veer Ahlawat and Karan Pratap Singh (T13) and Kshitij Naved Kaul, Karandeep Kochhar, Shivendra Singh Sisodia and Viraj Madappa all in a share of 17^th place.

Indonesia’s Rory Hie, a frequent India visitor, emerged winner to hand his country its first-ever Asian Tour triumph.

Solid progress

Meanwhile, in professional golf circuits around the world, Indians – both men and women – were time spent on the course count.

On the flagship PGA Tour, Anirban Lahiri was in tied 10^th place at the Sanderson Farms Championship on 7-under par in an interrupted second round after finishing 3-under on the first day.

When play was halted on Friday at the $6.6 million event at the Country Club of Jackson in Missisippi, he was 4-under par after 15 holes with five birdies against one dropped shot on his back nine.

Across the Atlantic, Shubhankar Sharma was tied sixth in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey, England on a two-day aggregate of 6-under 138 and had picked up two shots in his opening six holes of the third round with three birdies and one bogey.

And at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France near Bordeaux, Aditi Ashok, Diksha Dagar and Tvesa Malik all made the cut on Friday.

On day three, Tvesa was tied 62^nd on 11-over par 214with cards of 73, 75 and 76 while Diksha was T48 on 7-over 210 with rounds of 72, 73 and 75.

Aditi was tied 37^th on 5-over 218 having handed in cards of 71, 73 and 74 even as Nelly Korda of the United States continued to stretch her lead at the top of the table.

Also read: Indonesia, India are winners at Classic GCC International C’ship