Aman Raj sees it through with a hard-fought 68 for his second title of the season
Hyderabad: Patna’s Aman Raj saw it through with a hard-fought final round of two-under 68 to pick up his second title of the season as he totalled 18-under 262 at the Rs. 1 crore Bollineni Panache & Telangana Tourism presented Telangana Golconda Masters 2023 played at the Hyderabad Golf Association (HGA).
Aman (66-65-63-68), the overnight leader by one shot, took home the winning cheque worth Rs. 15,00,000, to consolidate himself in second position on the TATA Steel PGTI Rankings.
Mysuru’s Yashas Chandra (63-67-68-65) returned a 65 on Saturday to finish runner-up at 17-under 263.
Aman Raj began the day with a birdie on the first but then had a topsy-turvy front-nine as he sank another birdie and at the same time dropped two bogeys, one a result of landing his tee shot out of bounds on the eighth. Aman then managed to get his focus back on the back-nine with birdies on the 10th, 13th and 14th, thus re-emerging as the top contender.
After Aman’s bogey on the 16th things got a little tense for him as Yashas Chandra, just one shot behind, was breathing down the leader’s neck. However, Aman managed to close it out and pip Yashas to the post with solid pars on the last two holes which included a nervy four-feet putt for victory on the 18th.
Aman, who bagged his third career title, said, “I just wanted to play my game today and not think about anything else. I had the ideal start with a birdie on the first. But the momentum just slowed down for me thereafter. I then knew that things were not going as per my plan so I had to just hang in there.
“The birdies on the 13th and 14th gave me a much-needed boost. Finally, when I was looking at the tricky four-feet putt to win on the last hole, I told myself just to follow the process and not think about the result.
“I’m in a very good mental space at the moment and that has contributed to my great results this year. Importantly, I took it one shot at a time today and didn’t lose focus despite a rollercoaster day.”
Yashas Chandra’s 65 featured an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys. The Mysuru-based golfer took home the runner-up prize of Rs. 10,00,000 that helped him climb from 30th to 10th position in the PGTI’s money list.
Akshay Sharma and Sachin Baisoya shot scores of 69 on day four to take joint third place at 16-under 264.
Om Prakash Chouhan’s (64) tied fifth finish at 14-under 266 meant that he further built on his lead in the TATA Steel PGTI Rankings.
Angad Cheema fired the last day’s best score of 63 to end the week in eighth place at 13-under 267.
Local lad Mohd Azhar finished tied 18th at eight-under 272.
Rahil Gangjee ended tied 34th at two-under 278.
Final Leaderboard:
262: Aman Raj (66-65-63-68)
263: Yashas Chandra (63-67-68-65)
264: Akshay Sharma (61-65-69-69); Sachin Baisoya (66-61-68-69)
