GolfPlus- Dec19 Digital Edition (Dec 19) | Page 65

Chikkarangappa produced his best score in the last round,
a five-under-67, to finish joint runner-up
(Picture Courtesy: Asian Tour)
Shiv Kapur finished tied second on the Asian Tour for the
second week running (Picture Courtesy: Asian Tour)
win. I cannot describe the feeling now. The
season has been great especially coming back
from my injuries and winning three times on
the ADT and now this victory.”
Shiv Kapur (67-67-70), who was in a three-
way lead after the penultimate round, mixed
¿ ve birdies with a bogey and a double-bogey
in round four. Kapur, the 2017 Panasonic
Open India champion, was leading by one
shot till he hit his tee shot out of bounds on the
18th. The Dubai-based golfer ¿ nally missed a
20-feet bogey putt that would’ve taken him
into a playoff with Kim.
Chikkarangappa (69-68-67) produced his best
score of the week in the last round to secure
the joint runner-up position, his best for the
season. Chikka got his con¿ dence going with
the early birdie on the third before adding two
more birdies and a bogey till the 10th. Chikka
managed to ¿ nish well with three birdies over
the last ¿ ve holes where he made two quality
chip-putts and a 30-footer.
Chikka said, “I’ve been superb on the par-5s
this week as my strategy to lay up within my
favourite yardage with my approach shots
worked wonders. I was 10-under on the par-
5s through the tournament.
“As far as my driving is concerned, I’ve been
working on gaining distance over the last two
months by improving on my weight transfer
during the swing. All that hard work is now
paying off as I’ve added about 25 yards, from
285 yards to 310 yards, to my driving average.
“The season began well for me with a tied
20th at the Maybank Championship and tied
10th at the Hero Indian Open. Thereafter, I
didn’t have any great result. But those good
¿ nishes at the start of the season gave me
room to work on my game and make some
changes which in turn have helped me.”
Vikrant Chopra (67-70-69) mixed four birdies
with a bogey in the last round to post a tied
¿ fth, his best ever result on the Asian Tour.
Vikrant’s previous best was tied eighth at the
Panasonic Open India 2015.
Chopra said, “Coming into this event I was
going through one of my worst seasons on the
PGTI and was outside the top-60 of the Order
of Merit. I had recently missed the cut in two
big events including the Asian Tour event at
Classic two months back. So, I badly needed
a good ¿ nish this week. This top-5 now gives
me a huge boost in the PGTI money list and
raises my con¿ dence.”
Veer Ahlawat’s (69-69-70) tied eighth ¿ nish
too was an improvement on his previous best
Asian Tour result which was tied 13th at the
Classic Golf & Country Club International
Championship held at the same venue two
months back. Ahlawat’s good show was a
result of his sharp short-game.
The other Indians in the top-20 were Arjun
Prasad and M Dharma (both tied 11th at seven-
under-209) as well as Om Prakash Chouhan,
Karandeep Kochhar, Khalin Joshi and Rashid
Khan (all in tied 14th at six-under-210.
“ It has been a dream of mine
to play on the Asian Tour ever
since I was young. It’s really
wonderful to come here, be in
contention and win. I cannot
describe the feeling now. ”
Joohyung Kim
Vikrant Chopra notched his career-best Asian Tour finish as
he closed the week in tied fifth (Picture Courtesy: Asian Tour)
GolfPlus
Veer Ahlawat ‘s tied eighth finish was his best on the Asian
Tour so far (Picture Courtesy: Asian Tour)
DECEMBER
2019
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