South Africa’s Matthew Kent at the RCGC on Saturday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta, Feb. 14: Matthew Kent of South Africa continued his impressive run by reaching the final of the Eveready 103rd all-India amateur golf championship with a victory over top seed and defending champion Manav Das at RCGC on Saturday.

The 16-year-old Kent won a thrilling semi-final match on the final hole to set up a final clash with B.G. Lalithakumara of Sri Lanka. Lalithakumara, in brilliant form throughout the week, was ruthless in his five and four win over fourth seed James Smith of England. The final will be a 36-hole affair.

Kent, widely tipped as the future of South African golf and a member of the prestigious Ernie Els Foundation, looked in absolute control against Manav. The fifth seed was always up against the top seed, who made a series of errors with his approach shots on the fifth, sixth and seventh holes. Kent only needed to make pars to go three-up.

But India’s top amateur came back strongly to win the ninth and then halved the next six holes to be two-down after 15. He then won the 16th with a birdie and the 17th to draw level. On the final hole, both players overshot the green and then chipped to almost 15 feet past the hole. A spot in the final depended on who would make the putt, when Manav missed.

In the Lalithakumara-Smith match, the Sri Lankan was always in command. He won the first with a birdie and the third and fifth with pars. Smith managed to close the gap on the tenth, but Lalithakumara was right back with a birdie on the12th, and it was all over when Smith three-putted the 13th and 14th. Lalithakumara would be looking to regain the title he had won in 2001.