Viraj clinches IGU-Northern Juniors

October 19, 2013.Young Viraj Madappa stamped his class when he romped home with a 19-shot victory in the IGU Northern India Junior Golf Championship that concluded at the Army Environmental Park and Training Area here on Friday.

The 15-year-old closed in with a final round of 5-under 67 to finish the tournament at 13-under par 275.

The win also earned him a berth in the Nick Faldo Series to be played in China.

Manu Gandas who finished second with a total of 294 also booked a ticket to China.

Karandeep Kochar was third at 296 and also won the title in Category B Mohan Sardar was tied for the fourth place along with Tapendra Ghai at 298 while Shubham Narain ended up teid for the sixth place along with Piyush Sangwan.

Karthik Sharma was second in Category B with a total of 304 while Adilbir Singh was third at 306.

Arjun Prasad and saarthak Chhiber ended up fourth and fifth with scores of 308 and 315 respectively.

Viraj armed with a 11-shot lead did not hesitate to attack and met with great success as he made three birdies and a bogey on his front nine.

The birdies came on the fifth, seventh and ninth while losing a stroke on the sixth.

On his back nine, Viraj after an opening stumble on the 10th where he made a bogey and then played some superb golf making birdies on the 12th, 14th and 17th without committing any mistakes to finish the round at 5-under.

“I am thrilled with the victory and dedicate this win to my mom who was here to watch me,” said the champion.

“I did not consider the lead but went straight into the game without any plan. I just wanted to make pars and collect a few birdies and I am happy that I succeeded,” said Viraj who also is in the Indian team for Nomura Cup.

Top scores (after 72 holes)

Category A & B

275 Viraj Madappa (67, 72, 69, 67); 294 Manu Gandas (74, 73, 75, 72); 296 Karandeep Kochar (77, 75, 73, 71); 298 Mohan Sardar (74, 76, 75, 73), Tapendra Ghai (71, 73, 79, 75); 300 Shubham Narain (76, 77, 76, 71), Piyush Sangwan (78, 74, 72, 76); 301 Ritwik Jain (75, 73, 78, 75), Yuvraj Sandhu (75, 75, 74, 77); 304 Kartik Sharma (76, 76, 78, 74)

Category B

296 Karandeep Kochar (77, 75, 73, 71); 304 Karthik Sharma (76, 76, 78, 74); 306 Adilbir Singh (79, 74, 76, 77); 308 Arjun Prasad (73, 83, 75, 77); 315 Saarthak Chhibber (76, 85, 78, 76); 318 Kartik Digvijay Singh (82, 81, 78, 77); 322 Pratheek Nagaprasad (82, 81, 78, 81); 324 Arjun Puri (83, 81, 83, 77); 325 Sarthak Kohli (80, 85, 79, 81), Saptak Talwar (83, 80, 77, 85)

Nick Faldo series

U-16: Viraj Madappa (Gold); Karandeep Kochar (Silver). U-18: Manu Gandas (Gold); Tapendra Ghai (Silver).