Viraj claims IGU Uttar Pradesh Juniors title

Riding on a cushion of 12-shot lead, Viraj Madappa registered a huge 18 shots win to clinch the IGU Uttar Pradesh Juniors title at the Noida Golf Club here today.
The Kolkata lad shot a final round of four-over 75 to finish the tournament at three-over 287.
Feroz Singh Garewal at 305 finished at a distant second with Ritwik Jain and Raghubir Choudhary sharing the third spot at 308.
Tanvir Kahlon and Pukhraj Singh Gill were tied for the fifth place at 309, while Karandeep Kochhar and Jairaj Singh Sandhu were tied for the seventh place at 311.
Kahlon emerged as the winner in category B with a four-day total of 309 beating Karandeep Kochhar by two shots.

Arjun Puri and Kartik Sharma were tied for the third place at 319, while Kartik Digvijay Singh was fifth at 322.

Udayajit Bhalotia and Hassan Rahman finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
With the fight for the title almost over at the end of the third round, the competition was on for minor placings.
However, young Viraj after an initial hiccup when he began the day with a bogey on the par-5 first, he lost one more stroke on the par-4 sixth to take the turn at 2-over.
A birdie start on the back nine was followed by consecutive bogeys on the 11th and 12th before a birdie on the 14th. Two more bogeys on the 15th and the finishing hole did not matter much as by that time he had widened the gap.

"I am happy to win the title and that too by a huge margin. It is always good to begin the season with a victory," said Viraj.
"I was not in any kind of pressure and that helped a bit. I look forward to make it a hattrick in this Northern swing of events," added the champion.