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Coussaud rallies to annex title

Meijel ended his forgettable outing with another bogey on the 18th to card
Last Updated 31 March 2023, 19:39 IST

Walking to the 18th tee box, Ugo Coussaud caught a glimpse of the leaderboard. In that brief moment he saw his name had moved on top of it from being a shot behind two holes ago.

"I just told myself to breathe,” recollected the Frenchman about keeping a check on his emotions on the last hole when he had a one shot cushion at 18-under. The last group was behind Coussaud with overnight leader Lars Van Meijel of Netherlands and Joel Girrbach of Switzerland struggling but still in the race at 17-under.

Carrying on the confidence of scoring birdies on the 16th and 17th, the 30-year-old went on to play a perfect last hole of the final day - drive to the centre of the fairway, a 143-yard pitching wedge on the green to make a comfortable two putt from 20 feet for a par.

No last minute heroics from the leader group meant that Coussaud would go on to be drenched in champagne and take home a cheque of $48,000 for winning The Challenge by one shot at the Karnataka Golf Association here on Friday.

His impressive 5-under 67 on the fourth day after rounds of 68, 67 and 68 on the first three days helped the small-town boy from Angouleme lift his maiden trophy after five years of playing on the European Challenge Tour. Girrbach and Spain’s Manuel Elvira finished second at 17-under.

So consistent was Coussaud throughout the week that he had 19 birdies and a lone bogey. “I holed a 9-feet putt to make that only bogey. My putting was solid, especially 8-feet and inside,” he said.

It was a rough day for three others who began as the leading pack when Coussaud sat four shots behind. While overnight leader Meijel had a disastrous start by bogeying the 1st and 2nd to fall back, Girrbach’s dropped shots on the 4th and 7th gave others hope to accelerate towards the title. Their other playing partner Alex Fitzpatrick of England fell off the race too with a one-over 73 to finish tied-9th.

Meijel ended his forgettable outing with another bogey on the 18th to card one-over 73 for a tied-4th place along with France’s Frederic Lacroix. Girrbach, with his 2-under 70 effort, took the tied-2nd spot with a four-day total of 271. Elvira, however, made the biggest gains apart from the winner when he jumped from tied-12th position at the end of three days to tied-2nd after shooting a 6-under 66 on the final day.

There was some cheer for the local crowd when Aman Raj carded a 3-under 69 to end the tournament as the best Indian with a tied-6th place. The 27-year-old made two birdies each on both nine’s and a bogey on the 2nd hole that took his four-day total to 15-under. The other Indians, Kartik Sharma (66, 67, 70, 72) and Veer Ahlawat (72, 69, 65, 69) finished tied-11th at 13-under.

Leading scores (after 72 holes, Indians unless mentioned): 270: Ugo Coussaud (FRA 68, 67, 68, 67); 271: Manuel Elvira (ESP 70, 67, 68, 66), Joel Girrbach (SWI 69, 64, 68, 70); 272: Frederic Lacroix (FRA 67, 66, 69, 70), Lars Van Meijel (NED 66, 66, 67, 73); 273: Pep Angles (ESP 66, 71, 68, 68), Oliver Farr (WEL 67, 69, 68, 69), Aman Raj (68, 67, 69, 69); 274: Alex Fitzpatrick (ENG 65, 65, 71, 73), Borja Virto (ESP 68, 68, 70, 68).

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(Published 31 March 2023, 13:27 IST)

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