Kshitij Naveed Kaul holds off Ankur Chadha to claim second PGTI title

Kshitij Naveed Kaul holds off Ankur Chadha to claim second PGTI title

Kshitij Naveed Kaul secured his second professional title after defeating Ankur Chadha by a single shot at the RCGC Open Championship.

The young golfer, who is one of the most consistent players on the PGTI, entered the final day with a one-shot lead and held it throughout the day to win the renowned golf tournament at the historic Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

Ankur Chadha of Gurugram struck a 71 to move up one spot and finish a career-best second at 11-under 277. While, Panchkula’s Angad Cheema shot a 73 to drop one spot to third place at 10-under 278.

Sunit Chowrasia, the nephew of veteran Indian golfer SSP Chowrasia, proved his mettle on the home course with a fourth-place finish and ended his run as the best Kolkata golfer.

Kshitij Naveed Kaul
Kshitij Naveed Kaul

In his four-day campaign, the 20-year-old Kaul had 19 birdies and seven bogeys to win the Rs.40 lakh event.

Ankur Chadha was Kshitij’s nearest challenger for the title through the day. He made two birdies and a bogey to end up as one of only two players in the field (along with Sunit Chowrasia) to shoot four sub-par rounds.

Ankur recovered from the trees and made a 25-feet birdie conversion on the 16th to get within one shot of the lead. However, he could not convert from long range on the 17th and 18th to catch up with Kaul. He narrowly missed his 25-feet birdie putt on the 18th.

Angad Cheema did not recover after his three bogeys early on took him to one-over for the day at the turn. He made pars till the end.

Seasoned golfer Om Prakash Chouhan and the young gun Yuvraj Singh Sandhu shared fifth place at five-under 283.