February 21: Udayan Mane managed to somehow script a great win after a tight tussle with overnight joint leader Simarjeet Singh at the Tata Steel Western India Amateur 2014 being played at the Par-71 Poona Club Golf Course here. Udayan shot a second consecutive two-over par 73 to take home the winner’s trophy by two strokes.
Trishul Chinnappa completed the podium places a further three strokes behind at eight-over par 292 after carding a round of three-over 74 for the day. Arjun Sharma and Yashas Chandra helped themselves into a top 5 finish. Reigning All India Amateur Champion, Pratap Atwal carded the best score of the day coming in at two-under par 69 to finish in the sixth place. Local lad Rohan Dhole Patil finished a creditable seventh to score Order Of Merit points for the first time.
It was all even as Udayan and Simarjeet began their fight for the finish in the morning. However, things changed very quickly when the Bangalore lad dropped 4 strokes in the first three holes. The Noida veteran was his usual steady self and was 3 strokes in the lead at the end of the Par-4 3rd . However a bogey on the 4th reduced the gap to 2 strokes, which got widened again on the 5th where Simarjeet made birdie. A birdie each followed for both and they went out with Simarjeet leading by 3.
Things took turn for the worse for the 42 year old as he started dropping strokes from the Par 4 11th hole. Another dropped stroke on the 13th cut his lead into half over the 23-year-old challenger Udayan who had made 5 consecutive pars by then. Sensing blood, he took the charge with a timely birdie on the 15th where his approach shot landed with 4 feet of the pin to level the scores.
Clearly shaken, Simarjeet made a mess of short putt to bogey the Par-4 17th hole and hand Udayan the lead for the first time today. With a lead of one stroke coming in to the 18th, Udayan decided to play it safe for a par. Simarjeet’s drive went to the left of the fairway from where he had to chip the ball on to the fairway and then reach the green in 4. The leader played out the perfect hole by laying his second shot on the Par-5 and reaching the green in 3. Two putts for both managed to widen the gap to 2 strokes in the end.
“I’m delighted to have won the event which after my horrible start was not something I’d expected.” Said the winner, Udayan Mane. He added, “ I’d always wanted to win a zonal tournament on the Tata Steel Amateur Tour and what better place to do it than in Pune..”
Top Scores – Final:
287 Udayan Mane (72,69,73,73); 289 Simarjeet Singh (69,74,71,75); 292 Trishul Chinnappa (71,73,74,74); 294 Arjun Sharma (79,71,73,71); 295 Yashas Chandra (69,79,70,77); 296 Pratap Atwal (78,75,74,69); 297 Rohan Dhole Patil (78,75,73,71); 298 Vikram Rana (76,71,73,78); 299 Umesh Tatkare (73,70,78,78), Aman Raj (73,77,76,73); 300 Samarth Dwivedi (78,75,72,75), Feroz Singh Garewal (74,74,77,75)
