JOIN USBrilliant Chikka grabs title
The local lad carded two-over 73 in the final round for an overall score of 13-over 297 to outclass his nearest rival Khalin Joshi by five strokes.
Joshi, who headed the leaderboard for the first three rounds, let slip the advantage by firing a dismal eight-over 79, while Imamul Haque (77, 84, 76, 75) finished third.
Jaipur’s Hemendra Chaudhary topped the standings in Category B with an aggregate of 30-over 314 and Piyush Sanghwan (84, 80, 85, 83) bagged the top prize in category C.
The 17-year-old Joshi, who trains at the very same course, headed into the final round with a slender one-stroke lead.
But just like in the previous round, he had a miserable front-nine which allowed Chikkarangappa to open up a two-stroke lead that marked the turnaround in the fortunes for the Bangalore lad.
Joshi sunk double-bogeys on the third and fifth holes and bogey each on the fourth and seventh before salvaging a birdie on the eighth.
With Joshi fading away, all Chikkarangappa had to do was stay calm and he just did that by sinking just three bogeys to one birdie on the front nine and that was enough for him to finish a fine comeback in style winning the title.
Following a bogey on the 11th hole, Chikkarangappa set the course on fire by smashing four birdies on the trot to all but knot up the title.
His only blemish was a triple bogey on the 17th, which marred an otherwise brilliant show by the talented teenager.
Leading scores: Category A (15-17 years): 297: S Chikkarangappa (78, 73, 73, 73); 302: Khalin Joshi (69, 79, 75, 79); 312: Imamul Haque (77, 84, 76, 75); 314: Hemendra Chaudhary (72, 82, 78, 82); 319: Trishul Chinnappa (82, 86, 79, 72); 320: Kunal Bhatia (82, 79, 84, 75), Praful Chand MC (84, 77, 83, 76).
Category B (13-14): 314: Hemendra Chaudhary (72, 82, 78, 82); 321: Vashishta Pawar (80, 83, 81, 77); 323: Aman Raj (79, 77, 82, 85), Rahul Ravi (81, 78, 80, 84), Sarhan Italia (79, 77, 82, 85).
Category C (11-12): 332:
Piyush Sanghwan (84, 80, 85, 83), 338: Viraaj Madappa (93, 80, 85, 80); 340: Shiv Naren Srinivasan (87, 83, 83, 87).
Category D (under-10, after 54 holes): 268: Karandeep S Kochar (90, 90, 88); 279: Sidharth K (93, 91, 95); 280: Arjun (Nasik) (93, 91, 96).