By Rahul Banerji
Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja overturned a seven-shot starting deficit on his way to a first victory in five years at the Rs 1 crore Vizag Open on Saturday.
Thangaraja (71-73-70-66) shot a day’s best round of 6-under 66 to outplay his rivals at the Rs. 1 crore worth inaugural event and net his fourth Tata Steel PGTI title.
The Colombo-based golfer, tied for ninth overnight and trailing the leader by a massive seven shots, literally pulled a rabbit out of the hat on Saturday to finish with an 8 under 280 aggregate, the PGTI said.
“I was just focusing on my own game today, Thanga said, later. “I was in tremendous hitting form and landed the ball close to the hole on many occasions.
“Despite the five lipped-out putts, I had a decent day with the putter. I thought a score of seven to eight under could win me the title, so that was foremost on my mind after I had a great front nine.
Over the moon
“I’m thrilled to win after such a long gap because I also came close to winning last season and this season. The EPGC is quite a challenging track and a world-class course.
“I look forward to coming back here next year. The win gives me loads of confidence ahead of the Asian Games and the rest of the season.
“Special thanks to my friend and fellow professional C. Muniyappa for being my fitter. I got a new set of clubs before the second half of the season and got them fitted in Bangalore.
“He did a great job with my clubs which has in turn made a huge difference to my game.”
The error-free round gave Thangaraja victory by one stroke at the East Point Golf Club in Visakhapatnam over Chandigarh’s Akshay Sharma (67-68-73-73, 281).
Big group
Samarth Dwivedi (68), Om Prakash Chouhan (69), Saarthak Chhibber (70) and Harendra Gupta (69), shared third place on 6-under 282.
Thanga, as he is popularly known, picked up a cheque worth Rs. 15 lakh to take a giant stride from 24th to sixth in the Tata Steel PGTI Rankings.
The genial Sri Lankan also became the 11th winner on the PGTI this season in as many events.
It was Thanga’s sixth professional win overall (with two coming on the Sri Lankan Tour). The 42-year-old will now head to Hangzhou in China in good heart to represent his country at the Asian Games.
Thangaraja, playing three groups ahead of the leaders, made an early charge with long birdie conversions on the second and fourth holes and a great approach to set up a tap-in birdie on the fifth.
He added another birdie on the par-5 seventh after finding the green in two shots.
After making the turn at four-under for the day, Thanga made further inroads on the back nine.
His tee shot on the par-3 11th lipped out of the hole but handed him a birdie and an accurate approach on 15 left him a three-footer for his sixth and last birdie of the day.
Closing struggles
Thanga’s 66 was too good enough for the others as Sharma (73), Sunhit Bishnoi (76), Trishul Chinnappa (74) and Shivendra Singh Sisodia (75), all struggled on Saturday and blowing away their chances.
Round three leader Bishnoi finished seventh on 5-under 283 while Chinnappa and Sisodia were a further two shots back in tied eighth.
Sharma’s second-place finish lifted him from 39th to 15th in PGTI’s money list.
Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow who finished tied third at Vizag continues to lead the Tata Steel PGTI Rankings with season’s earnings of Rs. 68,03,042.
Visakhapatnam’s Rahman Mehboob Shorif ended the week in tied 49th place at 12-over 300.
Top final scores
280: N. Thangaraja (71-73-70-66)
281: Akshay Sharma (67-68-73-73)
282: Samarth Dwivedi (68-71-75-68); Om Prakash Chouhan (69-70-74-69); Saarthak Chhibber (68-73-71-70); Harendra Gupta (67-76-70-69)
Also read: Consistent Sunhit Bishnoi takes Vizag Open third round lead
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