3 Indians in top-20 as Chacarra wins

The Indian trio of Veer Ahlawat, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Om Prakash Chouhan finished in the top-20 as Eugenio Chacarra made history by becoming the first Spanish golfer to clinch the Hero Indian Open title with a 1-under 71 on the final day here on Sunday.

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Last year’s runner-up Ahlawat (75), Chouhan (71) and Bhullar (73) finished tied for 17th. Bhullar had a disastrous finish to his round for the second successive day, making a bogey and a double-bogey in the last three holes. Ajeetesh Sandhu (78), who was the top-placed Indian at T-15 after the third round, finished T-31.

Among the other Indians, Shubhankar Sharma (75) was placed T-43, Shaurya Bhattacharya (79) was T-54 and Shiv Kapur (83) was T-60 with Kshitij Naveed Kaul. Sachin Baisoya (82) finished 64th, Jairaj Singh Sandhu (81) was 65th, Saptak Talwar (88) was 66th, and Aman Raj (85) placed 67th.

It was a memorable week for overnight leader Chacarra as he secured his first win on the DP World Tour with a total score of 4-under 284.

The 25-year-old, who entered the tournament on a special invite from Hero MotoCorp, began the final day with a double-bogey and closed with a bogey-par finish but still won by two shots over defending champion Keita Nakajima (72) of Japan.

“It was a tough day. We knew it was going to be a long day, with a lot of pressure and I didn’t have the start that I really wanted to make. But we know how this course is. The wind changes for one second and then you’re like 20 yards short. But I did a great job all week staying patient,” Chacarra said.