Chikkarangappa wins Southern India Amateur Golf title

Chikkarangappa, who earlier this month won the Inter-State title to go with All India Amateur Championships in February, totalled one-over 289. Joshi, who was Chikkarangappa’s teammate when the pair won the team title earlier this month, finished second at 294.

Asian Games silver medallist Abhijit Chadha (73) finished third at 295, while Delhi’s Kanishk Madan (76) was fourth and another Asiad silver medallist Rahul Bajaj (73) was fifth at 296. Trishul Chinappa (76) finished sixth at 299.

Chikkarangappa, trailing by two at the start of the final day, had a birdie on the second, but his playing partner Joshi birdied both the first and second to extend his lead. But Joshi’s bogey on fourth and double bogey on fifth allowed Chikkarangappa to get back into the fray despite the latter’s bogey on fifth. At that stage the lead was down to one.

Then Joshi seemed to fall apart with bogeys on seventh and ninth, while Chikkarangappabirdied eighth. The overnight lead of three for Joshi suddenly became a deficit of one for him.

On the back nine, Chikkarangappa birdied the tenth and 11th, while Joshi was three-over for the back nine. Chikkarangappa did drop a shot on par-5 14th, but by then Chikka was on his way home with the title.

“I am very happy with the way I won today. I did not think I would win by five-shots but somewhere the confidence of winning was always there. The point where I realized the title was in my hands was the eighth hole. I holed 30-footer from off the green and made a birdie. That was one of my best birdies. Also, I was kicking my putter on the last three days and I actually kissed it this morning,” said Chikkarangappa.

The win earned Chikka 50 points on the Indian Golf Union (IGU) Order of Merit and he moved further ahead of the field in the race to bag the honours for the season.