Journalism of Courage
Om Prakash Chouhan only needed a level score of 72 in round four to clinch his maiden professional title at the PGTI Players Championship at the Oxford Golf and Country Club on Friday. Having led at the end of all three rounds,with scores of 66,69 and 68 on the first three days,the 25-year-old from Mhow,Madhya Pradesh,began the final round with a three-stroke lead over Delhis Rashid Khan and Arshdeep Tiwana of the Golden Greens Golf & Country Club,Gurgaon.
The final-round 72 was enough for Chouhan to finish with a tournament score of 13-under 275,a stroke in front of the Delhi duo of Rashid and Shamim Khan.
Chouhan started on a lame note,with a bogey at the first hole,before making up for it by sinking a chip to birdie the fifth. A bogey followed at the sixth,before he levelled with a birdie at the ninth.
At the 15th,Chouhan landed his approach shot to within seven feet of the pin,to enable his first birdie of the back-nine. He then missed a three-foot putt and double-bogeyed the 17th. By this stage,Shamim Khan and Rashid Khan had caught up with Chouhan.
But a near-perfect second shot on the 18th that stopped five feet from the pin allowed him to birdie the 18th and take the title by a stroke.
It is an amazing feeling to win my first professional title, Chouhan said. Ive finally crossed the line after being in contention on previous occasions. This win will definitely do a lot for my self-belief. I started poorly today as I did feel the pressure towards the beginning of the round. However,I gathered my thoughts thereafter and tried to play my normal game. I hit it very well through the day and didnt let go of my opportunities despite the blemish on the 17th.
Shamim,meanwhile,had six birdies against two bogeys in his final round. He made a charge on the back-nine with three consecutive birdies on the 14th,15th and 16th but fell just short of completing a double crown,having won the PGTI event at Poona Club last week. Shamim was tied for second with Rashid,who made three birdies and a bogey in his round of 70 on Friday and missed out on a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole that could have forced a play-off between him and Chouhan.
Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh was fourth at eight-under-280. Punes Shubham Jindal,the lone amateur to make the cut,took away the trophy for the best performance by an amateur. Jindal had a total of 15-over-303 to grab a share of 46th place.
