PThe 17th TATA Open 2018 provided a fitting finale to the fiercely competitive 2018 PGTI season. Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, kept a calm head on an action-packed day to prevail by one shot after firing a rock-solid two-under-69 at the par-71 Golmuri Golf Course in Jamshedpur on Sunday.
Chouhan finished with a total score of 20-under-264 at the Rs 1crore event and thus ended a four-year long title jinx. It was the Mhow lad’s fifth professional title and his second win at the TATA Open. Incidentally, he registered his last win at the 13th TATA Open 2014.
Bengaluru’s Chikkarangappa had the honour of shooting the day’s best score, an eight-under-63 that helped him finish runner-up at 19-under-265. Chikka had a fabulous closing stretch as he sank birdies on his last four holes.
While Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi had already sealed the PGTI Order of Merit title with earnings of Rs 62,81,340 before the start of the 17th TATA Open 2018, this week’s tournament decided second place on the merit list which went to Kolkata’s Viraj Madappa who had earnings of Rs 46,17,097. Notably, Madappa did not play the Jamshedpur event. Chikkarangappa’s runner-up finish this week, helped him clinch third place on the money list with earnings of Rs 44,01,435.
Mysuru-based 23-year-old Yashas Chandra, who missed the cut at Jamshedpur, won the PGTI Emerging Player of the Year race. His season’s earnings of Rs 13,26,493 was the highest among the rookies by a long distance. Chandra had nine starts in the season and posted two top-5 finishes. His best result was fourth at the CG Open 2018.
Om Prakash Chouhan (63-67-65-69), leading by one over Delhi’s Rashid Khan after round three, struck an early blow in round four with a birdie on the first. However, that was neutralised by his bogey on the next hole.
The 30-year-old Chouhan then got back to the process of rebuilding his round with a 15-feet birdie conversion on the fourth and another birdie on the ninth that came as a result of a brilliant 2-iron approach shot.
A three-putt bogey on the 10th had Om Prakash in a spot of bother as Rashid Khan drew level with him on the next hole for the first time during the final round. But ‘OP’ as Chouhan is fondly referred to, once again surged ahead after driving the green on the par-4 12th which set up another birdie for him.
The gap widened on the 12th as Rashid dropped a double-bogey there and couldn’t recover thereafter.