Harendra Gupta registers thrilling come-from-behind win at inaugural Golconda Masters

Hyderabad, March 1, 2015: Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh wrapped up the inaugural Golconda Masters Golf Championship in style as he defeated Shamim Khan of Delhi in a playoff after coming from behind with a round of three-under-67 on the final day. Harendra and overnight leader Shamim, who carded an even-par-70 on day four, headed for the playoff after ending the tournament with identical totals of 15-under-265.

Harendra Gupta (67-65-66-67), who was overnight second and trailed Shamim Khan by three strokes after round three, began the day with a bogey on the first. Gupta, however, rallied with three straight birdies on the fifth, sixth, seventh and an eagle on the ninth to draw level with Shamim, who had managed just two birdies till then. The 30-year-old Harendra emerged a contender for the title as he made some good chip-putts on the fifth, sixth and seventh and sank an 18-footer on the ninth.

Shamim all but blew away his chances of victory with bogeys on the 13th, 15th and 16th to fall three shots behind Harendra with two holes to play. However, the final twist came with Gupta hitting it out of bounds to drop a double-bogey on the 17th as the deficit between him and Shamim came down to one shot. Khan birdied the final hole from 10 feet to take the match into a playoff.

On the playoff hole, the two were in the bunker with their tee shots but Gupta pulled out a great approach shot to land just short of the green while Shamim had to chip out. At the end it was Harendra who came through to claim his eighth career title and fourth win on the PGTI with a five-feet par putt even as Shamim dropped a bogey.  

“I’ve won a tournament after a long time so this win will do wonders for my confidence for the rest of the season. I feel the momentum shift today came on the stretch between the fifth and the ninth where I picked up five strokes to draw level with Shamim. The seventh has been lucky for me as I birdied it on day three as well. I lost concentration on the 17thwhere I found the OB. However, I was pretty confident on the playoff as my playoff record has been pretty good,” said Harendra.

He added, “It’s great to win the inaugural edition of the Golconda Masters and the first tournament at the magnificent HGC. The course conditions have been perfect this week and the Hyderabad Golf Club is a venue I’d love to come back to.”

Harendra Gupta has now climbed from 23rd place to second position in the Rolex Rankings. Shamim Khan who was denied his second straight win on the PGTI has now climbed from second place to first position in the Rolex Rankings.

Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh and Sri Lankan Anura Rohana ended tied third at 10-under-270.

Gaganjeet Bhullar claimed 15th place at five-under-275. He shot a 70 in the final round.

Kolkata’s Shankar Das, the 2014 Rolex Rankings champion, came up with a final round of 71 to end up in tied 18th position at two-under-278.

Photo caption: Harendra Gupta receives the trophy from Mr. B V Papa Rao, IAS, Advisor to Govt. of Telangana.

PGTI Press release

Shamim Khan takes control with a 64 in round three

Shamim Khan

Hyderabad, February 28, 2015: Delhi’s Shamim Khan took a three-shot lead in round three of the Golconda Masters 2015 after he came up with a six-under-64 at the Hyderabad Golf Club on Saturday. Shamim thus took his three-day total to 15-under-195. Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh carded a four-under-66 to be placed second at 12-under-198.

Shamim Khan (63-68-64), who was overnight tied second, put himself in a great position to earn a second straight win on the PGTI after he posted a 64 that featured seven birdies and a bogey. Shamim, who won the last PGTI event played in Noida two weeks back, enjoyed a terrific day with the putter as he sank birdie putts from a range of 15 to 35 feet on the first, seventh, ninth and 18^th.

Shamim almost drove the green on the sixth to set up another birdie. He also capitalized on the par-5 11^th by finding the green in two and making birdie. The three-putt on the 14^th led to his only bogey of the day.

Shamim said, “In the previous rounds just one part of my game seemed to be clicking. But that was not the case today. All aspects of my game, be it hitting, putting or bunker shots, were sharp in round three. I recovered extremely well from the fairway bunkers on two occasions. The best birdie of the day was the 35-feet conversion on the ninth which was a very tough putt.

“I’m carrying the confidence from my win two weeks back. I won’t be looking at any number in the final round but will just go out there and play my own game. It would be great to win the first ever professional event to be staged in Hyderabad,” added Shamim.

Harendra Gupta (67-65-66), who was overnight tied fifth, moved up three places to second position as a result of his third round effort of 66 which featured seven birdies and three bogeys. Gupta had a golden run of five straight birdies from the seventh to the 11^th.

Noida’s Amardip Sinh Malik (69-61-69), the overnight leader slipped to third place at 11-under-199 post his round of 69 on Saturday. Malik, who broke the course record with his 61 in round two, managed four birdies against three bogeys during round three.

Sri Lankan Anura Rohana occupied fourth place at 10-under-200 while Bangalore’s Chikkarangappa was a further two shots back in fifth position.

Gaganjeet Bhullar moved up from his overnight tied 22^nd to tied 14^th at three-under-207 courtesy his third round of 69.

Kolkata’s Shankar Das, the 2014 Rolex Rankings champion, also shot a 69 to join Bhullar in tied 14^th position.

PGTI Press release

Amardip Sinh Malik reigns supreme with course record 61

Amardip Sinh Malik

Hyderabad, February 27, 2015: Noida’s Amardip Sinh Malik fired a blistering nine-under-61 to take the lead in round two of the Golconda Masters 2015 and establish a new course record at the Hyderabad Golf Club. Malik led by one stroke at the halfway stage as he totaled 10-under-130. There was a three-way tie for second place at nine-under-131 between Sri Lankan K Prabagaran, Jamshedpur’s Karan Taunk and Shamim Khan of Delhi.

Amardip Sinh Malik (69-61) had a double-bogey start on the first after he hit a poor bunker shot and then missed chip-putt. Malik made up for the early setback as he rallied with birdie conversions from 30 feet and 10 feet on the second and third respectively. There was no looking back for the 29-year-old from there on. Amardip drove the green on the par-4 fifth for his third birdie and picked up two more strokes in quick succession on the sixth and seventh.

The highlight of Malik’s round was the eagle on the par-5 11th where he missed an albatross by a whisker after landing his second shot just a foot from the flag. Amardip, who won his maiden event in December last year, set up four more birdies on the last seven holes by hitting it within six to eight feet of the pin. Malik thus broke the previous course record of 62 set by Prabagaran in round one.

Amardip said, “It was a great recovery after the double-bogey start. I just carried on after the two long conversions on the second and third. I was hitting it close throughout. I enjoyed some good stretches from the fifth to the seventh and again on the 11th and 12thand the last four holes. I could’ve gone lower today had I not missed a few short putts.

“I’m enjoying the conditions here at the HGC and I’ll look to build on this effort in the next two days. The win at the end of last year was a morale-booster and I’ve been playing good golf since then,” added Malik.

Karan Taunk (65-66) moved up two places from his overnight tied fourth after a determined effort of 66. He had two long putts and two good chip-putts. Taunk, the 2014 PGTI Emerging Player of the Year, capitalized on the three par-5s, the eighth, ninth and 11th, by picking up strokes on all three holes. He dropped strokes as a result of finding the trees on the sixth and a couple of missed chip-putts.

“I’ve played the par-5s really well on the first two days. I’ve made birdies on five out of six occasions on the par-5s in the first two rounds. The 20-feet conversion on the seventh was almost a bonus as I wasn’t expecting it. The two unforced errors where I missed chip-putts were the only disappointment. One can’t afford to be on the wrong side of the hole at this course.

“I played well in my rookie season last year but I needed to work on some aspects of my game and so didn’t play the first two events of the season earlier this month. The hard work seems to be paying off,” said Taunk.

K Prabagaran (62-69), the overnight leader, continued to strike it well as he drove three par-4 greens which earned him two birdies. However, his putting let him down, as he three-putted twice. His only bogey was on the 17th where he missed the green.

Shamim Khan (63-68) continued in joint second with a steady 68 that featured three birdies and a bogey. Khan created chances with his iron-play as all his three birdies were tap-ins.

On an eventful day, Bangalore’s Chikkarangappa and Sri Lankan N Thangaraja fired aces during their rounds of 65 and 66 respectively. While Chikka made hole-in-one on the 10th, Thangaraja achieved the feat on the seventh.

Chikka was placed seventh at seven-under-133 and Thangaraja ended the day in tied 13th at four-under-136. Thangaraja closed his round by picking up five strokes on the last four holes as he made birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie from the sixth through the ninth.

Gaganjeet Bhullar, one of the pre-tournament favourites, followed up his opening round of 70 with a 68 on day two to be placed tied 22nd at two-under-138. The Kapurthala golfer’s second round featured an eagle-two on the fifth, four birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey. Bhullar was five-under through 16 holes but dropped three strokes on the last two holes after a double-bogey and bogey finish.

Kolkata’s Shankar Das, the 2014 Rolex Rankings champion, shot a 70 on Friday to join Bhullar in tied 22nd position.

The cut was declared at four-over-144. Sixty professionals made the cut.

PGTI Press release

Prabagaran fires sublime 62 for round one lead at Golconda Masters

Hyderabad, February 26, 2015: The Golconda Masters Golf Championship 2015, the first ever men’s professional event to be staged in Hyderabad, got off to a cracking start at the Hyderabad Golf Club, as K Prabagaran of Sri Lanka fired a sublime eight-under-62 to sit atop the leaderboard. Anura Rohana, another Sri Lankan, occupied joint second place along with Delhi’s Shamim Khan at seven-under-63 at the Rs. 40 lakh event.

K Prabagaran, a tournament winner on the PGTI last year, began the day with an early birdie on the 11th where he got out of trouble thanks to a good chip-putt. A bogey followed on the 13th as he three-putted. The 34-year-old picked up the pace as he holed putts from six to seven feet for birdies on the 14th, 15th and 18th.

Prabagaran, who hails from the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club in Sri Lanka, then turned on the heat with an unbelievable run of consecutive eagles on the fifth and sixth. He drove the green on both the par-4 holes before converting the putts from 20 feet and three feet respectively. Prabagaran ended the day with another birdie on the eighth courtesy a chip-putt from over the green.

“It was an outstanding round. My driving and approach shots were brilliant. I also got myself out of trouble on a couple of occasions after hitting it over the green. It’s the first time I’ve made two consecutive eagles. This round has really lifted my confidence for the rest of the week,” said Prabagaran, who finished 10th in the 2014 Rolex Rankings with a win and eight other top10 finishes.

He added, “One needs to be very accurate on certain stretches of this course which are narrow. The fourth in particular is a very challenging hole. There are times when you can’t see the fairways from the tees so judging the distance well is the key here. I had a good 2014 season on the PGTI which has done wonders to my confidence. I want to perform a few notches higher this year.”

Shamim Khan too enjoyed his outing in round one. He sank a 20-footer for eagle on the sixth and chipped-in for birdie on the 11th. He also landed it within three feet on three occasions to set up tap-in birdies.

Anura Rohana joined Khan in tied second as he came up with an eagle, seven birdies and two bogeys.

Ashbeer Saini of Kapurthala and Jamshedpur’s Karan Taunk shared the fourth spot at five-under-65. Saini had a terrific run of four straight birdies from the second to the fifth on Thursday.

Chikkarangappa of Bangalore and Kolkata’s Shankar Das, the reigning Rolex Rankings champion, were tied 12th at two-under-68.

Gaganjeet Bhullar occupied tied 26th position at even-par-70. Bhullar, who made double-bogey on the 17th and bogey on the third, came back well with an eagle-birdie finish, on the eighth and ninth.

PGTI Press release