ATZENBRUGG
42-year-old Kolkota native, S.S.P. Chawrasia, found some momentum with scores of 72-68-73-70 (5-under 283) to finish tied-15th at the US$ 1.2mn Austrian Open at Diamond Country Club near Vienna.
Chawrasia, who has four European titles to his name, must have heaved a sigh of relief as he made his first cut in seven starts on the European Tour, to pick up US$ 14,800 (₹ 11 lakhs) and open his season earnings.
SSP and the other Indians in the field battled intense cold in Austria as temperatures hovered in the single digits, making his performance even more creditable. At the halfway stage, SSP stood 5th and after a shaky start to Rd 3, recovered for a reasonable finish.
Other Indians in the field included Asian Tour winner Ajeetesh Sandhu, who was playing his first European Tour event in over two years and Shubhankar Sharma. Both finished tied-61st with totals of 4-over 292.
Starting next week, the Indian trio will be joined by Gaganjeet Bhullar for a three tournament stretch in Canary Islands and Tenerife in Spain as the Tour stays away from major cities in an attempt to keep the players away from the pandemic as far as possible. It took Bhullar, who could barely manage his Spanish visa in Delhi in time, 24 hours and three flights to reach his destination on Sunday night.
The European Tour has been providing €1000 to every tour player who misses the cut at any of the events in this season. The support is to ensure players are able to manage their expenses and the sponsors see full fields at their tournaments during these challenging times.