Kolkata: India ‘B’ ably led by Gagan Verma and Udayan Mane won the International team title in the 112th Tata Steel Amateur Golf Championship of India being held at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club here on Wednesday. The duo completed the stipulated 36-holes of stroke play with a total of 310 to garner a 5-shot victory over India ‘C’ represented by Samrath Dwivedi. India ‘A’ comprising of Simarjeet Singh and Karan Taunk finished third at 317.
Meanwhile Ankur Chadha stole the limelight in the Individual category by edging out Arjun Singh to win the title by a solitary shot after signing off with a level par card of 72 for a two-day total of 147. The victory put him on top of the ranking in the match play championship that begins on the morrow. Amongst the top 32 players from the stroke play event who will now vie for the prestigious 112th Tata Steel Amateur Golf Championship of India title included Abul Tam (Malaysia), Vijitha Bandara (Sri Lanka), Tshendra Dorji (Bhutan) and Mohd. Sagoor (Bangladesh). Three-times Sri Lankan Open Amateur champion Simarjeet Singh was amongst the notable players who missed the cut.
Shubhankar Sharma was third at 149 while Karan Taunk who shot the day’s best of 1-under 71 shared the fourth spot along with Viraj Madappa at 150. Raghubir Chaudhary, Trishul Chinnappa and Abel Tam of Malaysia were tied for the fifth place at 152.
Ankur Chadha who has already proved his potential not only on the amateur circuit but has rubbed shoulders with the top professionals, made a brilliant start shooting two birdies on the second and fourth and was two-under for the first five holes. These were nullified with consecutive bogeys on the next two holes as he took the turn at level par for the round. The back nine began on an ominous note with a bogey while losing one more shot on the 14th. However, the lanky golfer from Chandigarh made back to back birdies on the 15th and 16th to reach home with a card of 72.
“I was confident of my game and was aiming to make pars as I did not want to take the risk against tough playing conditions,” said Ankur Chadha after the round. “The top seed status gives a comfortable feeling but you never know, match play is a different ball game,” added Ankur.
Arjun Singh after an eventful front nine where he was two-over with two birdies and four bogeys made a solid charge in the back nine four birdies. However a double bogey on the finishing hole did him in.
Scores after 36 holes
Team
310 India ' B ' Udayan Mane (75, 78) & Gagan Verma (76, 81); 315 India ' C ' Samrath Dwivedi (79, 78) & Syed Saqib Ahmed (77, 81); 317 India 'A' Simarjeet Singh (82, 85) & Karan Taunk (79, 71); 323 Sri Lanka Vijitha Bandara (80, 78) & Sisira Kumar (86, 79); 334 Bangladesh Mohd. Sagor (82, 79) & Md. Liton (87, 86); 337 Bhutan Tshendra Dorji (77, 83) & Dechen Ugyen (90, 87); 340 Nepal Bikas Bogati (89, 80) & Dinesh Prajapati (86, 85)
Individual scores
147 Ankur Chadha (75, 72); 148 Arjun Singh (75, 73); 149 Shubhankar Sharma (75, 74); 150 Karan Taunk (India - A) (79, 71), Viraj Madappa (78, 72); 152 Raghubir Chaudhary (78, 74), Trishul Chinnappa (76, 76), Abel Tam (Malaysia) (75, 77); 153 Udayan Mane (India - B) (75, 78); 154 Arshad Ali (78, 76); 155 SK Lakra (79, 76), Arjun Sharma (78, 77), Jasjeet Singh (75, 80); 156 Vikram Rana (79, 77), Hemendra Chaudhary (71, 85)
