Dec 7, 2016: Udayjit Bhalotia and Sunit Chowrasia, both from Kolkata and belonging to well-known golfing families and the much acclaimed Karandeep Kochar, were among the prominent qualifiers for the Match-play round of the 116th Amateur Golf Championship of India at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club RCGC today.
The top 32 finishers in the strokeplay will now move into the Matchplay segment. Among the top 32 were four foreign players, including two from South Africa Shaun Stapleton and Francois Le Roux, Bangladesh’s Afnan Mahmud Choudhary and Sri Lankan Sisira Kumar.
Chowrasia’s first round 68 and Udayjit’s second round 69 and Kang’s first round 71 were the only sub-par rounds in two days at the demanding RCGC.
Chowrasia, nephew of SSP Chawrasia, the five-time Asian Tour and three-time European Tour winner, topped the honours and was the low qualifier in the strokeplay round preceding the main Matchplay. The young Chawrasia totaled two-under 142 and was the only player to have a sub-par total for 36 holes.
Tied at second were Chandigarh’s Kochar (73-74), who recently became the first Indian amateur to win a pro tournament on domestic circuit, with Amir Khan (72-75) of Delhi.
Udayjit, son of former Indian PGTI professional and now coach, Indrajit Bhalotia, had a second round of 69, the lowest card on second day, after a first day 79. He was tied fourth with seasoned HS Kang (71-77) of Chandigarh.
India internationals in amateur golf Yuvraj Sandhu, Aalap IL, Arjun Prasad, Kshitij Naved Kaul and veteran Amit Luthra were among the other qualifiers.
In the matchplay, Sunit Chowrasia will play against the talented Kshitij Naved Kaul, who represented India at World Amateur in Mexico and Asia-Pacific Amateurs in Korea, while Udayjit Bhalotia will play against Sri Lankan Sisira Kumar in tomorrow’s highly anticipated match-play.
The other interesting matches to look forward to are Karandeep Kocchar against Vinay Kumar Yadav and Amir Khan against Viren Thapar.
The 1982 Asian Gold medalist in team event, Amit Luthra will meet the South African star Shaun Stapleton from South Africa.
Tomorrow will be the first round of match play followed by the second round and quarterfinals the day after for which eight players will qualify.
The Indian Golf Union is the organiser and is supported by its partner Rolex. The event is being supported by the RCGC and is managed by Protouch Sports. The iconic Oberoi Grand is the hospitality partner to the event.
IGU Release
