JOIN USSamarth claims wire-to-wire win
Samarth Dwivedi had reserved his worst for the last but still ended up completing a wire-to-wire victory in the Tata Steel Southern India Amateur Golf Championship here on Friday.
Samarth, leading by a whopping seven shots at the start of the final round, went over par for the first time in the week, carding a error-strewn three-over 75. Despite that Samarth tallied 282 to score a three-shot win at the Karnataka Golf Association.
Pratap Atwal carded a decent 72 to end runner-up while Udayan Mane also recorded a level-par score to finish third at 287.
“I’m elated with this victory as winning a zonal event is always special,” said a delighted Samarth. “I had a few tense moments during the round but my caddie kept updating me about the scores and I was able to pull through comfortably in the end.”
Samarth, who has been nothing but brilliant this entire week, appeared affected by the pressures of the final round despite being placed well clear of his rivals.
He triple-bogeyed the par-4 second before dropping a shot each on the fifth and seventh holes as his lead was cut down to just one stroke at the turn.
Just when the heat began to rise, he regained his cool, arresting the slide with a brilliant eagle on the 11th before draining a birdie on the 17th. He signed off with a bogey on the closing 18th but the title had already been secured.
Leading scores (after 72 holes): 282: Samarth Dwivedi (68, 69, 70, 75); 286: Pratap Atwal (70, 70, 74, 72); 287: Udayan Mane (75, 72, 68, 72); 290: Viraj Madappa (69, 73, 72, 76); 292: Syed Saqib Ahmed (73, 72, 76, 71), Pukhraj Singh Gill (73, 69, 73, 77); 293: Arjun Sharma (77, 70, 78, 68), Jasjeet Singh (72, 72, 78, 71).