[Watch] Chikka wins Kashmir Masters

July 12, 2014. It was a day of celebration for the young Chikkarangappa from Bengaluru. The 20 year old fired a 68 in the final round and soared to victory at the  PGTI Kashmir Masters. With  Rashid Khan slipping to a 73, Chikka took the title with a comfortable six shot margin over Khan.  Rahil Gangjee finished third, posting 69 for a 12-under total of 276, seven behind the lad from Bengaluru.

Chikka (65-68-68-68) made six birdies, including two straight at the 16^th and 17^th to finish with a final flourish. The young man set up his success this week with a course record 65 and followed through with a consistent showing through the next three rounds. Ace golfers SSP Chowrasia and Jyoti Randhawa could not contend on the final day after making 74 and 72 respectively. The former finished T22, while Randhawa settled for T13.

N Thangaraja was the best international; his 66 containing seven birdies helping him reach 11-under and to fourth on the leaderboard. Khan started on a terrible note; bogey at the second and double on the fourth set him back even as he started his final assault. He worked his way back from there, but he had to settle for a one-over 73 and second place.

Rahil was set for a tie in second, at 13-under through the 17^th. But he gave back one at the 18^th where he made bogey to slip back to 12-under. There was a four way tie for fifth – Karan Taunk (71), Shankar Das (68), Divyanshu Bajaj (71) & Shubhankar Sharma (73) finished 9-under for the week.

Starting at 10-under, Shubhankar had a shot at victory, but slid quickly. Three bogies on the front nine – including back to back misses at the 8^th and 9^th saw him slide down. He did recover with a pair of birdies on his way back, but 73 was only enough for fifth.

Pahalgam winner Om Prakash Chouhan brought up the top ten with three other men. K Prabagaran, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Mukesh Kumar ended their tournament at eight-under.

Chikka banked a neat Rs. 8,08,250 for his efforts this week. Rashid took home Rs. 5,58, 250 and third placed Rahil pocketed Rs. 3,13,250. Golf in Kashmir surged to new heights after the success of the two events in Pahalgam and Srinagar.

Report by Anand Datla

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