Honey claims top spot, Harendra finishes 4th

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 20

City golfer Harendra Gupta jumped seven places in the last round to finish fourth even as Delhi’s Honey Baisoya made it two wins in two weeks with an emphatic four-shot triumph at the Delhi-NCR Open Golf Championship in Noida on Friday.  

The 21-year-old Baisoya, who had won in Pune last week, came up with a determined 2-under 70 in the final round to total 11-under 277 for the week. 

Baisoya’s sixth professional title also helped him extend his lead in the PGTI Order of Merit. With season’s earnings of Rs 17,02,535, he is now almost Rs 5 lakh ahead of second-placed N Thangaraja of Sri Lanka in the money list.

Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow and Delhi’s Shamim Khan, the overnight leader, struggled in round four with scores of 74 and 75 respectively to finish joint runners-up at 7-under 281, while carded an impressive 2-under 70 to climb to fourth place.

City golfer Abhijit Singh Chadha scored a 71 in the final round for a total card of 2-under 286 and shared the 10th spot with Karandeep Kochhar, who slipped two places after scoring disappointing 3-over 75 on Friday. Sujjan Singh (75) was a further shot behind at tied-15th place.  

Baisoya (70-69-68-70), who was tied second and one off the lead after round three, was one-over through eight holes on Friday and fighting hard for the title against the likes of Shamim Khan, Om Prakash Chouhan and Shankar Das.

The Delhi Golf Club golfer then strung together three consecutive birdies from the ninth to the 11th to emerge as the favourite. But a double-bogey on the 12th reduced his lead to just one shot.

Baisoya finally broke away from the rest of the field with a crucial 13-feet birdie conversion on the 13th. Four pars that followed along with another long birdie putt on the last hole ensured that he sailed home with a comfortable margin. It was his third victory at the Noida Golf Course.