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Maiden professional title for Muniyappa

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: C. Muniyappa played four days of near perfect golf to win his maiden professional title — the PGTI - Toyota Altis Open title — here on Saturday.

At the Eagleton Gold resort, Munyappa carded a final day score of six under 66 for a total of 19 under 269 to pocket the biggest purse of his 12-year professional career — Rs. 3,23,300. The win enabled Muniyappa climb to 10th in the PGTI Order of Merit.

Australia’s Kunal Bhasin finished three strokes behind to take in Rs. 2,23,300 while joint overnight leader Anirban Lahiri slipped to third with an overall score of 15 under 273 and a cash award of Rs. 1,25,300.

Solid start

Muniyappa — with a previous best of tied second in a PGTI event at Pune in September this year — began solidly with a birdie on the first but dropped a bogey on the fourth. Muniyappa then sank a birdie on the fifth, an eagle on the seventh and two successive birdies on the ninth and 10th.

A poor second shot led to his second bogey for the day on the 11th but birdies followed on the 15th and 17th for a well deserved victory.

“It’s been one of the most memorable days of my golfing career. I learnt from my past mistakes and did not give away the lead on the final day. This win will hopefully help raise the level of my game further,” said Muniyappa.

Bhasin (71, 65, 69, 67) registered his best finish on the PGTI with this effort.

Steady climb

He made a steady climb on the leaderboard till the 10th hole with birdies on the first, fourth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th. But a bogey on the 12th slowed him down. A birdie on the 15th and a bogey on the 16th effectively put him out of contention for the top spot.

Bhasin, who climbed from 62nd to 44th on the PGTI Order of Merit, said, “I had a good start today with six under after 10 holes but then a couple of mistakes stopped the momentum.

Lahiri (65, 70, 68, 70) birdied the first, sixth, 11th, 14th, 18th and bogeyed the second, ninth and 12th while Mukesh Kumar (68, 67, 70, 69) maintained his top slot in the PGTI Order of Merit after finishing fourth with a tournament total of 14 under 274. S. Chikkarangappa (71, 68, 66, 74) of Eagleton won the amateur title finishing 10th with a nine under 279.

The leading scores (Top 10): 269 C. Muniyappa (67, 66, 70, 66); 272 Kunal Bhasin (71, 65, 69, 67); 273 Anirbhan Lahiri (65, 70, 68, 70); 274 Mukesh Kumar (68, 67, 70, 69); 276 Himmat Singh Rai (72, 66, 70, 68), Harmeet Kahlon (71, 64, 72, 69); 278 Vikrant Chopra (72, 73, 68, 65), Sujjan Singh (73, 70, 67, 68), Sanjay Kumar (73, 64, 72, 69); 279 S. Chikkarangappa (Amateur) (71, 68, 66, 74).

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