Pune: Om Prakash Chouhan carded a sedate 72 in round four of the PGTI Players Championship presented by Oxford Golf & Country Club to bag his maiden professional title. The 25-year-old from Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, totaled 13-under-275 for the tournament. Delhi golfers Shamim Khan and Rashid Khan were the joint runners-up with matching totals of 12-under-276.
Om Prakash Chouhan (66-69-68-72) came home the winner by one stroke after making four birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey in his final round of 72. Chouhan had a poor start as he bogeyed the first hole. He then rallied with a magnificent chip-in for birdie on the fifth. Om Prakash's bogey on the sixth which came as a result of a three-putt was negated by his top-class chip-putt for birdie on the ninth.
Chouhan landed his approach shot from 100 yards to within seven feet on the 15th hole and thereby garnered his first birdie on the back-nine. He then endured some nerve-wrecking moments after he missed a three-feet putt and double-bogeyed the 17th. The Mhow-based professional was on level terms with Shamim Khan and Rashid Khan at this stage. Chouhan displayed his grit and determination with a near-perfect second shot on the 18th that stopped five feet from the pin. He then sealed the title by converting the five-footer for birdie.
"It is an amazing feeling to win my first professional title. I've finally crossed the line after being in contention on many 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 didn't let go of my opportunities despite the blemish on the 17th," said Chouhan.
Shamim Khan (69-68-71-68) 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. Shamim was joined by Rashid Khan (71-66-69-70) in tied second place. Rashid made three birdies and a bogey in his round of 70 on Friday and missed out on a 15-feet birdie putt on the final hole that could've led to a play-off between him and Chouhan.
Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh was fourth at eight-under-280.
Pune's Shubham Jindal, the lone amateur to make the cut, took away the trophy for the best performance by an amateur. Jindal totaled 15-over-303 to grab a share of 46th place.
