The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Gagan Verma triumphs

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Gagan Verma triumphs

Special Correspondent

— Photo: Sampath Kumar

Gagan Varma.

BANGALORE: Gagan Verma clinched his first ever amateur title while winning the LG- Eagelton amateur golf tournament played at the resort near Bidadi on Friday.

Gagan won by one stroke from Vikram Rana who needed an eagle on the final hole to take the match into a play-off. Rana managed only a birdie, not enough as Gagan held on by the narrowest of margins. The final round was exciting. Gagan, who logged three birdies (2nd, 7th and 8th) took up a relatively safe position after the 16th despite his three bogeys (9th, 13th and 16th) for the day.

Vikram’s path in the final round was similar to Gagan’s with the former also sinking a birdie on the second, followed up with a birdie on the fourth and on the 18th.

Vikram’s blemishes came on the first and fifth but it was his double bogey on the 16th that changed the course of the match. He had the Herculean task of scoring an eagle on the par four 18th and failed in his effort by just one stroke.

Rashid Khan and Abhinav Lohan shadowed each other for the third position. The duo had identical cumulative scores in the penultimate round and they came up with cards of one over 73 for the final round to share the third spot.

The results: 1. Gagan Verma 285 (72, 68, 73, 72), 2. Vikram Rana 286 (70, 72, 71, 73), 3. Rashid Khan 289 (71, 76, 69, 73) and Abhinav Lohan (72, 72, 72, 73), 5. Rahul Bakshi 290 (78, 70, 70, 72) and Manav Das (75, 69, 73, 73).

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