Aug 2, 2017: Indian star S.S.P. Chawrasia will be aiming for another home victory at the inaugural US$300,000 TAKE Solutions Masters which will give him a huge boost in the Asian Tour Order of Merit race.
He needs a tied second place finish with one player to take over the Merit lead from David Lipsky, who is not in the elite field this week. Only US$25,799 separates them.
Chawrasia, 39, won his sixth Asian Tour title in his National Open in March and will be hoping to continue the impressive track record held by Indian golfers as they have won all seven Asian Tour events staged on home soil since 2014.
He will be joined by a host of Indian stalwarts including two-time Asian Tour number one Jeev Milkha Singh, Shiv Kapur, who won his second Asian Tour title earlier this year, and home boy Chikkarangappa S., a two-time winner of the event when it was staged on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) in 2014 and 2015.
Chikka will be hoping to land his first Asian Tour title in his home state of Bengaluru following victories in the event on the ADT albeit on a different golf course. He has yet to hit top form this year and hopes to turn the corner this week.
“I want to keep the trophy in the family. I don’t want to let it go to another player.” – Chikkarangappa S.
Nicholas Fung of Malaysia will enter the TAKE Solutions Masters as an Asian Tour winner following his impressive victory at the Queen’s Cup in Thailand in June. He will be among the strong international golfers aiming to break the Indian stranglehold on home soil.
Did you know?
- Chawrasia needs to finish at least joint second with one other golfer to overtake David Lipsky on the Order of Merit.
- Seven Indian golfers have won all the Asian Tour events on home soil since 2014. Chawrasia alone has won three of those titles.
- Chawrasia is a six-time Asian Tour winner, five of his victories have been in India. His only international win came at the 2016 Resorts World Manila Masters
- He is the son of a greenskeeper at Royal Calcutta Golf Club and his rise in golf is one of the most inspirational stories on the Asian Tour.
- Chawrasia and Chikkarangappa S. are sponsored by TAKE Solutions.
- Chikka won the TAKE Solutions Masters on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) in 2014 and 2015. In the first year, he overcame a six-shot deficit to win and in the following year defeated countryman Shubhankar Sharma on the first play-off hole.
- His best season was in 2016 where he finished in 26th place on the Order of Merit to secure a full Asian Tour card for this season. In 2017, he has yet to produce his best golf with a tied 27th being his best result.
- Chikka hails from Bangaluru and is close friends with Anirban Lahiri. They train under the same coach.
- Nicholas Fung is playing in his first Asian Tour event since winning the Queen’s Cup in Thailand in June. He is currently ranked 14th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
- This will be the first time Fung will be playing at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) Golf Course.
- The Karnataka course previously staged the 2012 Hero Indian Open. It has been five years since it hosted an Asian Tour tournament.
Asian Tour Release
