Abhishek lifts LG TN Open Amateur title

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by sportswire4u.blogspot.com
Coimbatore, June 26
Abhishek Jha of Bangalore fired a 3-under 69 in the final round of the LG Tamil Nadu Open to register his first victory in the current season of the LG Indian Amateur Tour at the Coimbatore Golf Club here on Friday. He finished with a level-par card of 72 for a four-day total of 297.
Rahul Bajaj finished third at 300 while Pawan Kumar shared the fourth spot along with Karan Vasudeva at 304. Pritam Haridas was sixth at 305 while Moin Malak occupied the seventh spot at 307.
Playing some superb golf, the 22-year-old Abhishek flirted with birdies before finally nailing his first on the par-5 fifth. In fact he missed an eight-footer for an eagle. Staying at 1-under for the first eight holes, he swerved to the left on his drive on the par-5 ninth and paid the penalty as he eventually ended up with a bogey to take the turn at level par.
Meanwhile his nearest competitor Rashid Khan who had begun the day three shots behind Abhishek had no other way but to attack the pins if he wanted to catch up with the leader. He did attack the pins but was unfortunate not to make any birdies. In fact one such attempt earned him a bogey on the par-3 fourth. However he nullified it with a superb birdie on the par-5 fifth.
It was on the back nine that Abhishek did not leave any chance for his opponent as he made a hat-trick of birdies starting from the 11th with the birdie on the 12th satisfying him the most where he chipped in from 30 yards. Sitting pretty with a five shot lead, Abhishek then missed a 2-feet par putt on the par-3 14th. Meanwhile Rashid Khan too rallied with birdies on the 12th and 15th. But any chances of a real fight-back vanished on the par-3 16th where the Delhi lad made a double bogey, courtesy his tee shot which landed in the green side bunker. Although Abhishek swerved on his tee shots in the finishing holes, he made superb up and downs to save par and thus grab the title.
Top scores: (After 72 holes): 291 Abhishek Jha (BLR- 71, 77, 74, 69); 297 Rashid Khan (Del – 75, 75, 75, 72); 300 Rahul Bajaj (Noida- 79, 76, 73, 72); 304 Pawan Kumar (Del - 78, 74, 77, 75), Karan Vasudeva (Del – 78, 76, 73, 77); 305 Pritam Haridas (Blr – 78, 77, 74, 76); 307 Moin Malak (Pune – 79, 78, 76, 74); 308 Gagan Varma (Del – 72, 77, 83, 76), Jasjeet Singh (Noi da-74, 79, 77, 78), Samresh Sardar (Kol – 72, 78, 78, 80); 310 Siddarth Sharma (Jai – 75, 85, 72, 81); 312 C G Somaiah (Blr – 80, 80, 76, 76), Aditya Bhandarkar (Pune - 74, 74, 84, 80).