Chowrasia fires classic 65 to end 25-month title drought

MEWAT - Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia fired a blistering seven under 65 at the Classic Golf Resort to win the Solaris Chemtech Open Golf Championship 2010 with a 13-under 275 and end his two-year title drought here Saturday.

The Kolkata golfer, who finished one-stroke ahead of round three leader R. Murthy, saved the best for the last as he delivered a near-perfect performance in round four to clinch his 12th professional title and second win on the Aircel-PGTI. The 31-year-old won his last title at the Indian Masters in February 2008.

Chowrasia, who was fourth at the end of round three, made an early charge on day four with birdies on the second, fourth, fifth and ninth to be four under at the turn. He chipped-in from the edge on the second and sank putts from 20 feet and 15 feet on the fourth and fifth respectively.

Chowrasia became the joint leader along with R Murthy at 11 under when he birdied the 10th. Murthy then went up by a stroke with a birdie on the 12th. The equation changed on the 14th as Chowrasia converted a difficult eagle putt from 30 feet while Murthy bogeyed as a result of some poor hitting.

Chowrasia dropped his first bogey of the day on the 17th but nonetheless managed to seal the title courtesy of a birdie on the 18th, where his third shot from 70 yards landed five feet from the hole.

This has been an outstanding week for me. I only had one ordinary round. Im delighted to finally post a win after such a long gap. I will now carry this confidence to the international circuit. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Gautam Thapar who has sponsored me over the last two years. His support has always encouraged me to scale greater heights, said Chowrasia, who is now third on the 2010 Rolex Rankings (Order of Merit).

He added: I went into the sole lead on the 14th hole and that for me was the turning point of the day. The game turned on its head when I sank a 30-footer for eagle on the par five 14th while Murthy dropped a bogey on the same hole. My putter was hot today and I sank some really long putts besides making a fantastic chip-in on the second.

Murthy (71, 68, 67, 70) of Bangalore signed-off with a gallant two under 70 on the final day to finish as the runner-up at 12 under 276. Murthy, the only professional to shoot sub-par scores on all four days of the tournament, birdied the fourth, 12th, 18th and bogeyed the 14th on Saturday.

Murthy, who has now climbed from 45th position to fifth place on the Rolex Rankings, said: Even though I finished second, Im glad to have registered my best result on the Aircel-PGTI. The important thing was that I did not lose focus after falling back on the 14th hole and kept trying for birdies till the very end. It was this positive approach that helped me finish just one stroke behind in second.

He went on to add: I did not putt well today and missed some sitters from close range. Chowrasia, on the other hand, was in great putting form and that made all the difference.

Vijay Kumar, the leader for the first two rounds, ended third at 11 under 277 while Sanjay Kumar was a further three strokes back in fourth position. Gaurav Ghei and Om Prakash Chouhan shared fifth place at six under 282.