JOIN USChikka grabs maiden title
While he could not stop a marauding Thailand (855) from retaining the team championship for the Janya Cup by a whopping 11 strokes, the 17-year-old Bangalorean produced another sizzling show on an unusually balmy day to lay his hands on the crystal Amalia Montecillo trophy at the Eagleton Golf Resort.
“This is what I was looking forward,” said an ecstatic Chikka (272) after carding a final-round four-under 68 to win the individual crown on his fourth attempt by six strokes.
“I have been criticised for failing to perform at the international level; to have achieved this at my home course is phenomenal. This is the best tournament I have played ever in,” he added.
Focus on local lad
While it was almost a given that Thailand would win the team title after they had opened a 13-stroke lead after round three, the entire focus was on Chikka. Watched keenly by his modest parents and a strong crowd, he hardly put a foot wrong in registering his second double-digit under-par score for a tournament.
Determined and razor sharp in focus, Chikka’s final-round performance was nothing but a culmination of his show throughout the week.
His five birdies for the day took his tournament tally to 19, while he had just one bogey in the final round and three in total over four days.
After taking the turn at three-under, including an eight-foot birdie on the eighth, Chikka made his only blunder when he bogeyed the 10th.
While he still led by six strokes, the question of pressure cropped up but Chikka easily sunk two birdies before being sprayed with cola by non-playing captain Rashid Khan at the 18th, sparking off huge celebrations.
Chikka and team-mates Ashbeer Saini, Honey Biasoya and Manu Gandas finished runners-up in the team event after totalling 866.
Tame performances from Biasoya and Gandas were among the main reasons for India’s failure to capture the team championship.
Leading scores (India unless mentioned): Team championship: 855: Thailand (Nattawat Suvajanakorn, Pariwat Pinsawat, Poom Saksansin, Rattanon Wannasrichan); 866: India (Ashbeer Saini, S Chikkarangappa, Honey Biasoya, Manu Gandas); 875: Chinese Taipei (Chieh-Po Lee, Han-Ting Chiu, Sung-I Yu, Wei-Hou Liu).
Individual championship: Category A&B: 272: Chikkarangappa (66, 68, 70, 68); 278: Teng Kao (Chn Tpe, 69, 64, 75, 70); 279: Poom Saksansin (Tha, 68, 68, 71, 72); 286: Jobim Antonio Carlos (Phi, 71, 76, 69, 70), Khalin Joshi (73, 72, 69, 72); 287: Ashbeer Saini (73, 68, 72, 74); 288: Wei-Hou Liu (Chn Tpe, 70, 72, 71, 75); 289: Nattawat Suvajanakorn (Tha, 75, 74, 70, 70); 291: Mohd Azman Basharudin (Mal, 71, 73, 71, 76).
Category B: 289: Nattawat Suvajanakorn; 292: Sung-I Yu (Chn Tpe, 74, 72, 76, 70); 294: Pariwat Pinsawat (Tha, 77, 72, 68, 77); 304: Angelo Jose Gandionco (Phi, 79, 76, 73, 76); 305: Marc Ong (Sin, 78, 74, 77, 76); 310: Shubhankar Sharma (77, 77, 76, 80); 311: Honey Biasoya (81, 76, 79, 75).