Vihaan Jain wins IGU Southern India Junior Boys Golf Championship

Haryana golfer Vihaan Jain won the IGU Southern India Junior Boys Golf Championship after holding off Tamil Nadu’s Nilofer Sivamoorthy in a tense final round at Coimbatore Golf Club. Delhi’s Chaitanya Pandey also secured his second consecutive Category ‘B’ title

Hyderabad: Vihaan Jain of Haryana made clutch putts on the homestretch on Friday to hold off a gritty Nilofer Sivamoorthy of Tamil Nadu and secure the IGU Southern India Junior Boys Golf Championship title at the Coimbatore Golf Club on Friday.

The 16-year-old got off to a shaky start but came good under pressure on the back nine. He carded a five-over 77 for a nervy two-shot victory over Sivamoorthy (75) on a windswept day. This was the second consecutive Category ‘A’ (15-17 years) title for Vihaan, who finished with a 12-over 300 total. He also won last week in Vizag.

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Vihaan held a four-stroke cushion going into the final day, but a shaky front nine with four bogeys allowed the steady Sivamoorthy to close in on him. The Tamil Nadu golfer caught up with the leader on the 10th hole.

Vihaan was a trifle unlucky on the 10th hole when his wedge shot from 107 yards ricocheted off a sprinkler head and went out of bounds. After his fourth shot got plugged in the bunker, he was fortunate to escape with a double-bogey six.

He holed a 20-footer to move ahead by a shot, but Sivamoorthy birdied the 14th to draw level. Vihaan then let his putter do the talking with excellent par saves. The Gurgaon youngster drained a 22-foot putt on the 14th hole, sank a 15-footer on the 15th, a 10-foot putt on the 16th, and holed a 12-footer on the 17th hole.

Under pressure following Vihaan’s brilliant putting, Sivamoorthy bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes to hand Vihaan a two-stroke lead heading into the final hole. A steady par on the 18th secured the championship for Vihaan.

Like Vihaan, Delhi’s Chaitanya Pandey clinched his second straight Category ‘B’ (13-14 years) title. Pandey shot a closing 77 to seal a three-shot victory over Jaibir Singh Kang (74). Pandey finished with a four-day total of 20-over 308.

Final scores (after 72 holes): Category ‘A’ (15-17 years): 300: Vihaan Jain (Har, 75, 72, 76, 77); 302: Nilofer Sivamoorthy (TN, 77, 74, 76, 75); 305: Adhiraaj Singh Gill (Pun, 74, 79, 76, 76); 308: Shashank Sachin Gadre (Mah, 79, 78, 75, 76), Chaitanya Pandey (Del, 79, 75, 77, 77).

Category ‘B’ (13-14): 308: Chaitanya Pandey; 311: Jaibir Singh Kang (83, 77, 77, 74); 314: Saatvic Kumar Singh (Tel, 81, 78, 80, 75); 321: Aditya Tewari (Kar, 85, 78, 80, 78); 332: Siddhant Sharma (Har, 82, 83, 81, 86).