Chiragh Kumar wins Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open title

Chiragh Kumar receives winner's cheque and trophy from Dr. Priath Bandu Wickrama, Chairman, Sri Lanka Ports Authority in Colombo on April 19, 2013. .

Chiragh Kumar

Colombo, April 19, 2013: The Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open 2013 had a gripping finish after four days of top class golf at The Royal Colombo Golf Club. When the dust had settled and the final putt dropped, it was Delhi’s Chiragh Kumar who took home the spoils with a stunning one shot ‘come from behind’ victory in the biggest prize money event ever to be staged by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) in Sri Lanka.

Chiragh Kumar (72-66-67-68) carded a three-under-68 in the last round for an overall final score of 11-under-273 to bag the first prize of USD 11315. He finished one shot clear of local star Mithun Perera (69-67-64-74) who ended the week with a total score of 10-under-274.

Chiragh, who won his fourth professional title on Friday, made birdies on the second, seventh, 12th, 14th and 15th and bogeys on the third and ninth.

Chiragh said, “I’m thrilled to win my fourth PGTI title, even more so because it is here in Sri Lanka. There are a lot of people to thank who have supported me over the years, including my parents, coach and in particular my sponsor Mr. Dilip Thomas. So a big thank you to them.

“I need to thank Sri Lanka Ports Authority for their support to golf in Sri Lanka. Without them and other sponsors, events like this can’t happen. Coming back to my round today, I did not expect to win when I came to the course this morning. Mithun had a clear lead over the field and was looking like the outright favourite. I missed some short putts till the 11th but my momentum came back with the birdie on the 12th. At that stage, I thought some more birdies may secure second place for me. Unfortunately for Mithun, he dropped four shots on the last six holes and that helped me. Playing conditions were good today as the course was in excellent condition.”

Reacting to his hole-in-one in round two, Chiragh said, “I just hit a simple shot and the next thing I saw was that the ball ended up in the hole. I guess no one can plan such a shot.”

Local favorite and overnight leader Mithun Perera failed to push home his advantage with a score of three-over-74 in the final round. Perera made two birdies against five bogeys on Friday.

“I cannot say much what went wrong, obviously my putting was not good today and I missed some close putts. I could collect only two birdies in my round against the five bogeys most of which came on the back-nine,” said Mithun.

Mukesh Kumar of Mhow finished third with a total score of nine-under-275.

Honours for the best round of the day went to one of India’s leading youngsters Khalin Joshi of Bangalore, who shot a six-under-65 to finish tied seventh, five shots behind the winner.

The trophy for the best performance by an amateur went to local rising star Vijitha Bandara, who was the only amateur to make the cut. He finished overall tied 23rd with a total score of one-over-285.

Local favourite Mithun Perera storms into lead at Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open

 Mithun Perera                                            

Colombo, April 18, 2013: Local favourite Mithun Perera shot a brilliant seven-under-64 to open up a three shot advantage in round three of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open 2013 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club. Colombo-based Perera now has a total score of 13-under-200. Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah is placed second with a total of 10-under-203.

Mithun Perera (69-67-64), who shot a bogey-free round on Thursday, hit a purple patch with three consecutive birdies from the fifth through the seventh and thus made the turn at three-under. On the back nine, Mithun had another golden run of three consecutive birdies from the 10th through the 12th. The three-time winner on the PGTI made his last birdie of the day on the 17th to end up with a blemish-free round of 64.

“It was great to have a bogey-free round today. A seven-under- 64 is obviously a good score, but it could have been better as I had a few near misses. The course is in really good condition and greens are playing better than previous rounds. I think ‘local knowledge’ helped me a lot, particularly with the speed of the greens. I hope I can continue to exploit the local conditions and capitalize on the three-shot lead,” said Perera, who climbed from overnight tied sixth to the top of the leaderboard.

  

Md Zamal Hossain Mollah (70-64-69) stayed within striking distance of Mithun with a two-under-69 that gave him a cumulative score of 10-under. Zamal started with a bogey on the first but then birdied holes 4, 5, 7, 10 and 11. Back-to-back bogeys on 14, 16 and 17 pushed him back but he sank another close putt on 18th to finish his round with a birdie.

Overnight leader Anura Rohana had a tough day on the greens and came up with a one-over-72 to lie in third place at nine-under-204. “My hitting was decent but putting let me down. I could not convert some close putts and was a little unfortunate on the eighth where my 20-foot putt came to rest on the edge of the hole. I hope for the best tomorrow,” said Anura.

Rashid Khan and Chiragh Kumar were the highest-ranked Indians after round three. Both the golfers are five shots behind the leader at eight-under-205 in tied fourth.

Rohana comes good with a scintillating 61 on day two of Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open 2013

Anura Rohana of Sri Lanka

Colombo, April 17, 2013: After a steady even-par opening round on Tuesday, local Sri Lankan star Anura Rohana came roaring back in the second round of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open 2013 with a bogey-free 10-under-61. Anura thus matched his own course record. After starting from hole no. 1, Anura collected four birdies and an eagle on the seventh before making the turn. He added four more birdies on the back nine to take his tournament total to 10-under-132.

 “It was great to have a bogey-free round today. A round of 61 is obviously a fantastic score and I’m very happy with the round. My putting was excellent today as I had 24 putts in all. Luckily, I managed to keep the ball on the fairways on most occasions.

Looking further, I hope I can use my local knowledge to good advantage in the final two rounds,” said Anura, who birdied the first, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th, 13th, 17th and 18th and made eagle on the seventh.

Two shots behind the leader at eight-under, are Chikkarangappa S of Bangalore and Md Zamal Hossain Mollah of Bangladesh in tied second place. Chikkarangappa (68-66) shot a five-under-66 on Wednesday to take his total to eight-under for two rounds. Chikkarangappa had seven birdies against two bogeys. 

Zamal Hossain Mollah started with a bogey on first hole but after that he earned six birdies along with an excellent eagle to shoot a magnificent seven-under-64.

Delhi’s Rashid Khan, the first round leader, followed up his first round score of 65 with a 70 on Wednesday to take his total to seven-under for two rounds. Rashid had two birdies against one bogey.

M Dharma of Bangalore had a mixed round of 68 with six birdies and three bogeys. With a total score of seven-under, Dharma is tied for fourth place along with Rashid Khan.

Delhi’s Chiragh Kumar had a hole-in-one on hole no. 9. A perfect tee shot landed close to the pin and rolled into the hole. Chiragh had six birdies and three bogeys besides the hole-in-one (eagle) in his round of five-under. His total of four-under placed him tied ninth.

The cut was declared at four-over-146. Fifty-four professionals and one amateur made the cut.

Rashid Khan grabs first round lead at Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open 2013

Rashid Khan 

Colombo, April 16, 2013: The Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open 2013 promoted by Sports Mantra and Pro Golf Pvt. Ltd, got underway today at The Royal Colombo Golf Club. Over 100 professional golfers, all looking for a share of the prize purse of USD 70,000, teed off along with six amateur golfers from Sri Lanka.

Indian professional Rashid Khan finished day one on top of the leaderboard. The Delhi boy, who won the PGTI event at the Classic Golf Resort in the outskirts of Delhi last week, seems to have carried his good form to Colombo.

Rashid started the tournament with five birdies in a row from the 10th through the 14th. He sank another birdie on 16th but bogeyed the 17th to be five-under at the turn. Rashid dropped a shot on the fourth but birdied the sixth and seventh to finish his round with a score of six-under-65.

“The greens on this course are not easy to negotiate. One needs to adjust to the green speed quickly in order to perform well here. I’m feeling good and lucky to have this kind of start. My putting was good and having pocketed five birdies at the turn was a great advantage,” said the 22-year-old Rashid.

Divyanshu Bajaj of Kolkata trails Rashid by one stroke. Divyanshu, playing for the first time at Royal Colombo Golf Club, started his round with a bogey on the first but recovered immediately thanks to a birdie on the second. He went on to record an eagle on the sixth and three more birdies to end the day at five-under-66.

  

“Playing at this golf course for the first time and not having a practice round was difficult, but I walked few holes yesterday and got a feel of the course. The main idea was to keep the ball on the fairways and I was lucky to do so. Greens were playing a little slow due to the heavy rain yesterday and one had to take that into account today,” said Bajaj.

Angad Cheema of Panchkula and Bangalore’s M. Dharma were tied for third place at four-under-67. While Dharma had seven birdies and three bogeys in his first round, Cheema made six birdies against two bogeys.

Local hero and winner of the first ever professional golf tournament in Sri Lanka last year, Mithun Perera finished his round at two-under-69. “Due to heavy rain yesterday, the conditions have changed a lot and adjusting with the current playing conditions after playing in India and in different parts of Asia is not easy,” said Mithun.

The tournament continues tomorrow with the second round being played. At the end of round two, the field will be reduced to the top 50 players and ties, who will then play rounds three and four on Thursday and Friday respectively.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open 2013 is title sponsored by Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Gold sponsor Dialog Enterprise, co-promoted by Pro Golf Ltd., a Colombo based sports events and Distribution Company, and Sports Mantra, a New Delhi based sports events and marketing company.

Top 10 Scores of Round 1 of Sri Lanka Ports Authority Open 2013:

RASHID KHAN -6 (65), DIVYANSHU BAJAJ -5 (66), M DHARMA -4 (67), ANGAD CHEEMA  -4 (67), RAJU ALI MOLLAH -3 (68), CHIKKARANGAPPA S -3 (68), ABHIJIT SINGH CHADHA -3 (68),  VISHAL SINGH -3 (68),  AMARDIP SINH MALIK  -2 (69), SHIVARAM SHRESTHA -2 (69); MITHUN PERERA -2 (69), DIPANKAR KAUSHAL -2 (69).

Press release