Three complete title hat-tricks in US Kids Golf India at Classic course

By Rahul Banerji

Chaitanya Pandey posted a superb 3-under 69 in the boys Under-10 years group to complete a hat-trick of wins in the US Kids Golf India (North) at the Classic course near Gurgaon on Thursday.

The youngster had earlier won the first and second legs in October.

Pandey had six birdies against three bogeys and was exceptionally good in the last stages with four birdies against one bogey between the 12^th and 18^th holes.

He finished way ahead of Arihaan Beri (78) and UAE-based Siddhaan Chhibber, who had lost to Pandey in a play-off in the opening leg.

Pandey is looking at having a shot at the US Kids European and US Kids events later next year. Before the pandemic, he had qualified for the internationals in 2019, too, and won in Europe.

Two other players continued their winning streak. Shambhavi Chaturvedi of Noida won by seven shots over Shiksha Jain of Jaipur. Shambhavi had four birdies against six bogeys and was a seven-shot winner over Shiksha.

Mahreen Bhatia competing in the girls 13-14 group also won for the third time in succession.

Ojaswini Saraswat from Mohali became the third different winner in the youngest group for girls. In the nine-hole contest for the Girls Under 8, Ojaswini carded a 1-under 35 with two birdies and a bogey, all coming in the last three holes after a string of six pars.

The previous two winners Annika Chendira of Gurgaon (Leg 1) and Aanya Dandriyal from Noida (Leg 2) were second and fourth, Amaira Gulati tied for second with Aanya.

Parnika Sharma looking for a similar hat-trick was denied by Kriti Parikh in a play-off in Girls 11-12. Both were tied at 81 and Kriti won the close battle over extra holes. Kriti avenged her loss to Parnika in the second leg.

Bhawesh Nirwan, winner of the Boys U-12 second leg, won once again. He was a convincing winner over Arshvant Srivastava, who won the first leg of the season.

Prince Bainsla was a popular winner once again, taking the Boys 11 category honours. Bainsla won by a massive 11-shot margin after shooting even par 72. He won the second leg, too.

All the winners

Boys Under 7: Abeer Agarwal

Boys Under 9: Raajveer Singh

Boys Under 10: Chaitanya Pandey

Boys Under 11: Prince Bainsla

Boys Under 12: Bhawesh Nirwan

Boys Under 13-14: Naveen Rathi (75)

Boys Under 15-16: Arjun Singh

Girls Under 6: Ojaswini Saraswat

Girls 9-10: Shambhavi Chaturvedi (74)

Girls Under 11-12: Kriti Parikh

Girls Under 13-14: Mahreen Bhatia

Also read: Four seek title hat-trick at third leg of US Kids Golf North