JOIN US Jha found his wonted form at the Coimbatore Golf Club after returning a card of three-under 69 -- the best score of the tournament -- to take his four-day total to three-over 291, emerging winner by a whopping six strokes.
Tournament favourite and Amateur Order of Merit list leader Rashid Khan from Delhi, who carded an even-par 72 in the final round, finished second at nine-over 297.
Rahul Bajaj, who also hit a par for the course, was three strokes behind Rashid at third.
A bogey on the ninth hole left him level-par at the turn, but consecutive birdies from the 11th to 13th all but secured the title for Jha. “It feels so good to be back to winning ways.
“It is doubly satisfying that I won in difficult course conditions,” said Jha, whose last title came at the Noida Open this January.
Top scores (after 72 holes): 291: Abhishek Jha (71, 77, 74, 69); 297: Rashid Khan (75, 75, 75, 72); 300: Rahul Bajaj (79, 76, 73, 72); 304: Pawan Kumar (78, 74, 77, 75), Karan Vasudeva (78, 76, 73, 77); 305: Pritam Haridas (78, 77, 74, 76); 307: Moin Malak (79, 78, 76, 74); 308: Gagan Varma (72, 77, 83, 76), Jasjeet Singh (74, 79, 77, 78), Samresh Sardar (72, 78, 78, 80); 310: Siddarth Sharma (75, 85, 72, 81); 312: CG Somaiah (80, 80, 76, 76), Aditya Bhandarkar (74, 74, 84, 80).