Calcutta: Gurgaon's Shubhankar Sharma emerged triumphant on a dramatic final day of the inaugural Kolkata Classic to capture his second title of the season. Shubhankar, who posted a four-under-68 on Friday, ended the week with a winning total of nine-under-279, at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC). Sharma now leads the Rolex Ranking.
There was heartbreak for Bangalore's Khalin Joshi (71), who finished tied second, despite leading till the final hole of the Rs 30 lakh event. Calcutta's Shankar Das brought cheer to the home crowd as he delivered the day's best score of 67 to join Joshi in tied second at eight-under-280.
It was a keen tussle between two of India's bright young prospects, Shubhankar Sharma (68, 72, 71, 68) and Khalin Joshi (71, 69, 69, 71), on the final day. Shubhankar, who began the day in tied fourth, two off the lead, produced some excellent iron-play to accumulate four birdies till the 14th. He finally caught up with the overnight leader Khalin after a good recovery from the bunker that led to his fifth birdie of the day on the 16th.
The 19-year-old Sharma, who recorded a win and a runner-up finish on the PGTI last month, then seemed to have slipped out of contention as he overshot the ninth green to drop a bogey. However, there was a final twist to the tale.
Joshi, who was one ahead with three birdies for the day till he stepped on the 18th tee, landed his drive to the right and also missed a chip-putt on the last hole to concede a disastrous double-bogey that handed the title to Shubhankar.
Shubhankar thus garnered his third professional title and took home the cheque worth Rs 4,50,000 to move up from second to first position in the Rolex Ranking. His season's earnings read Rs 13,00,000.
For Khalin Joshi it was another near miss at the RCGC. He had earlier come close to winning at the same venue during the Tour Championship last December.
Joshi said, "I've been struggling as far as closing matches is concerned and that was once again the case today. Nonetheless, it's been a good week. I'll now head to play some events on the ADT to tune my game further."
Shankar Das (75, 68, 70, 67), lying overnight tied eighth, jumped into the fray on the final day much to the delight of the local crowd thanks to five birdies against two bogeys on the first 13 holes. He became a serious contender with two more birdies on 15 and 17, making a chip-in on the latter, before falling short by just one stroke at the end.
Noida's Amardip Sinh Malik and Bangalore's C Muniyappa finished fourth and fifth at seven-under-281 and six-under-282 respectively.
Local favourite Feroz Ali Mollah, the leader in the first two rounds, claimed tied sixth place at five-under-283 along with Delhi' Shamim Khan, Ajeetesh Sandhu of Chandigarh and Sri Lankan L Prabagaran.
