Bengaluru: As many as three Bengalureans qualified for the semi finals of the Tata Steel 114th Amateur Golf Championship of India as the fourth day saw two rounds of scintillating match play action here at the Par – 72 Karnataka Golf Association.

Local favourite Trishul was stretched to the limit and he produced a brilliant comeback after being 2 down through 16 against Noida’s third seed Harimohan Singh. Harimohan took the lead on the first hole itself and never went behind despite Trishul’s best efforts. He had to produce a clutch putt for par on the 17th hole before sticking his 9-iron approach to the pin on the 18th hole. Harimohan’s long putt to win hit the lip as he saw the match go in a play-off. Trishul then hit his tee shot just off the green from where he putted within 3 feet to give Harimohan no other choice than shaking hands with the sixth seed.

“I always believed I could make a comeback even being two down with two to go.” Said Trishul. He added “Once I got an opening on the seventeenth, the guys cheering me on gave me even more belief to go for the kill.”

After making the matchplay bracket through a five way play-off, Rahul Ravi faces Trishul in the semifinal tomorrow after comfortably beating HS Kang 4&3 in the round of 16 followed by a 2&1 win over city mate Jaibir Singh in the quarterfinals.

Former junior No. 1, Syed Saqib Ahmed played some outstanding golf to beat India No. 2 amateur Aman Raj 3&2 in the morning session’s round of 16 before quelling the challenge of Gurgaon’s Tapendra Ghai on the first play-off hole with a birdie. Tapendra had caused a major upset when he beat the top seed Viraj Madappa 2 Up and gave Saqib a run for his money in the quarterfinals. Saqib was 2 up through 12 and was dormie going into the eighteenth where he found the hazard on the right, which eventually forced a play-off. The Gurgaon lad’s tee shot on the first play-off hole went out of bounds while Saqib drove over the green to progress through to the semis.

Chandigarh’s Pukhraj Singh Gill came through two tough matches to join the Bengaluru lads in the semifinals after first seeing off fourth seed Kushal Singh 1 Up and then beating Tarak Swamy on the second play-off hole.

Results – Quarterfinals (seeding preced the name):

9-Syed Saqib Ahmed beat 16-Tapendra Ghai 19th
20-Pukhraj Singh Gill beat 12-Tarak Swamy 20th
31-Rahul Ravi beat 10-Jaibir Singh 2&1
6-Trishul Chinnappa beat 3-Harimohan Singh 19th

Line Up – Semifinals:
9-Syed Saqib Ahmed versus 20-Pukhraj Singh Gill
31-Rahul Ravi versus 6-Trishul Chinnappa