Sat, Oct 30 10 09:52 PM
Bangalore, Oct 30 (PTI) Bangalore''s Anirban Lahiri retained the BILT Open title after signing off with a steady two under 70 at the KGA today. Lahiri totalled 11 under 277 for the week to take home the winner''s cheque of Rs 1,616,500 that helped him climb from fourth to first place in the 2010 Rolex Rankings. Amardip Singh Malik of Meerut finished four strokes behind Lahiri to be the runner-up. Lahiri (68-68-71-70) did not have the ideal start to his title defence on the final day of the Open. He began with a bogey on the first hole, where he first found the trees, and then the bunker. At this stage he was the joint leader along with Malik. Lahiri went into a two-stroke lead after making birdies on the third and eighth where he sank putts from eight and six feet respectively. The defending champion found the water hazard on the 10th and, as a result, dropped a bogey that reduced his lead to one stroke. Lahiri was struggling with his hitting but he made up for that with his excellent short-game. A great example of this was his tremendous recovery on the par-five 11th, where he picked up a birdie. He hit a poor drive on the 11th, which landed in the fairway bunker. However, he managed to salvage a birdie from there after finding the edge of the green in three shots and then sinking a 10 feet putt. The Bangalore lad all but sealed it when he knocked in a 25-feet birdie putt on the 15th that once again put him two strokes ahead. Lahiri finally went on to register a four-stroke win as Malik''s challenge faded away after he dropped bogeys on the last two holes. "I was in poor hitting from today. Nevertheless, I remained focused and composed despite hitting those bad shots. Importantly, I didn''t give the lead away from the third hole onwards and matched both my partners shot by shot. "I kept pushing myself through the round. The par putt that I sank from 25 feet on the second hole turned out to be very crucial at the end. Even though I won by four shots, the match was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests," said Lahiri, who has now won five professional titles including three in the current Aircel PGTI season. "It''s great to defend a title. The BILT Open is one of the most prestigious events on the Aircel PGTI calendar and to win it two years in succession is quite special. It was very pleasing to see a huge gallery at the KGA today which included a lot of kids. Their support was quite encouraging," he added. MORE PTI AH
Source: Published>
0 comments:
Post a Comment