Sri Lankan golfer Anura Rohana cruised to a four-shot victory as he returned a clinical final round of two-under 69 to total 19-under 265 at the Rs. 1 crore TATA Open here on Sunday.
The quintet of Kolkata-based golfers Viraj Madappa (66) and Raju Ali Mollah (70), Gurugram's Manu Gandas (68), Delhi's Shamim Khan (69) and Noida's Vikrant Chopra (69) finished joint runners-up with an identical total of 15-under 269 at the penultimate event of the season.
Rohana (69-61-66-69), the overnight leader by three shots, marched to his fifth PGTI title after driving home the advantage on the final day with five birdies against two bogeys at the pristine Golmuri Golf Course.
The 44-year-old, who won his fifth PGTI title along with a winning cheque of Rs. 15 lakh on Sunday, never looked in any sort of trouble on day four. Despite a bogey on the first hole he kept his lead with pars on the next seven and a birdie on the ninth.
Rohana, who won on the PGTI in Pune earlier this year, went into attacking mode on the back-nine in order to build on his lead. He almost holed his approach from 45 yards for an eagle on the 10th where he finally picked a tap-in birdie. A couple of quality birdie chip-putts on the 12th and 16th saw him home despite a couple of bogeys on the back-nine.
Rohana, who has now moved up from 12th to third in the PGTI Order of Merit, said, "I began the day looking for a round of four to five under and was quite aggressive on the back-nine. That did the trick for me. The birdie on the 10th was the highlight of my round as I almost holed out from 45 yards.
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"I'm delighted with this win as it gives me a chance to contend for the PGTI Order of Merit title. I began the year with a top-5 finish on the money list on my mind. I've almost achieved that goal."
As a result of his joint runner-up finish this week, Shamim Khan extended his lead in the PGTI Order of Merit to about Rs. 5 lakh over second placed Udayan Mane of Bengaluru. Shamim's season earnings read Rs. 46,27,983.
--IANS
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