Karan Pratap Singh receives the winning cheque and trophy from (L – R) Mr. K S Sibia, Captain, Chandigarh Golf Club, Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI & Col. H S Chahal, President, Chandigarh Golf Club
22-year-old unheralded Karan Pratap Singh of Faridabad showed he has promise by following up his playoff loss last week in Noida with a win in Chandigarh. Karan shot steady rounds of 70-70-68-70 (10-under 278) to win his first career win on the Tata Steel PGTI Tour.
He entered the final round two-strokes behind Jamal Hossain of Bangladesh but his 2-under 70 was good enough to beat last month’s European Challenge Tour winner Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow and Arjun Sharma by one shot.
Karan, who uses the unconventional claw putting grip, was even par for the day through the first 12 holes but made key greenside saves on 17 and 18 to take home the title.
Singh, who turned professional in 2019, took home the winner’s cheque of Rs. 15 lakh to climb from sixth to third place in the TATA Steel PGTI Rankings with early season earnings of over Rs. 33 lacs, in a season where PGTI purses have been raised to a record minimum of Rs 1 crore each.
“It was great to finally get the job done especially after coming so close and losing out in the playoff last week,” Karan said. The turning point for me today was a two-shot swing in my favour on the eighth hole where I nearly made a hole-in-one while Jamal made bogey. That got me and Jamal tied for the lead.
“After that, I was confident of my chances. It’s an amazing feeling to win my first title. I’ve been playing well since the start of the year and have had good results. This win is all the more important for me as I missed the second half of last season due to a knee injury.
“I switched to the claw grip on my putter last year. This really suits my game and has helped me putt better.”
Credits:-
Photo – PGTI