Chikkarangappa emerges winner

Coimbatore, June 17, 2011: Bangalore’s S. Chikkarangappa capitalized on his second position at the end of Day three to card a one-under-71 on final day of Inter State Amateur Championship to lift the trophy. Chikkarangappa got a close fight from Chandigarh’s Abhijit Chadha who lost by two stroke.

Chikkarangappa played consistent the entire day as he made birdies on 5th, 13th and 17th holes to score one-under for the total of 71 (which was also the best score of the day) to clinch the trophy. 18-year-old Khalin Joshi carded three-over for the total of 304 to finish as 2nd runners up.

Title win for Chikkarangappa (77-79-72-71) and third position for Joshi (75-75-79-75) propelled Karnataka A to the team championship title for a total of 603. The runners-up team was Chandigarh with the pair of Abhijit Chadha (74-76-74-77) and H. S. Kang (79-81-73-75) for the team total of 609.

Chikkarangappa struggled on the first two days of the championship in Coimbatore, on a course, which played very tricky. It was only after a conversation with his mental conditioning coach Vinod Kumar that saw Chikkarangappa adopting a relaxed approach to the game. The results were so instant that despite being tied on the hole No. 16 the Karnataka –lad hit a birdie on 17th and hit the center of fairway on the last hole to take the elusive lead against Chaddha.

17-year-old Chikkarangappa said, “I wasn’t confident on the first two days about my game and whenever I was about to tee off, I used to be double minded about my approach. In fact I was standing too close to the ball, which distorted the shot’s trajectory and I very rarely hit the center of fairway. I managed to sort out my game on the third day at the driving range after taking some advices from my mental conditioning coach. I started my day very well today and when I hit a driver on left rough on the hole no. 17th, I was sure that the title is in my hands.”

The Closest to pin was given to Delhi’s Gagan Verma as he shot 11’ & 11” on hole no. 7 while Longest to drive was given to another Delhi’s lad Rahul Bajaj for the hole no. 18. Raghavender Naidu of Tamil Nadu has won the straight drive on hole 6.

Photo caption: Bangalore’s S. Chikkarangappa displays his golf trophy in Coimbatore on June 17, 2011.