N Thangaraja wins title at Panchkula, earns Indian Open berth

N Thangaraja of Sri Lanka came through in a battle of nerves to win the season-opening PGTI Players Championship by one shot and earn a place at the 51st Indian Open.
Thangaraja, who totaled five-under-277, finished one shot ahead of Mhow golfer Mukesh Kumar at four-under-278 at the Panchkula Golf Club. Both players fired scores of one-over-73 in the final round of the Rs. 30 lakh event today.
Panchkula's Angad Cheema and Chandigarh-based Abhijit Singh Chadha claimed a share of third place along with Delhi's Ashok Kumar at three-under-279.
Thangaraja (69-67-68-73), the overnight leader by one shot, was one-under through 15 holes today. The 33-year-old landed his wedge shots within three feet to set up birdies on the sixth, 11th and 15th. A three-putt on the eighth and an erratic tee shot on the 13th resulted in dropped shots.

Mukesh (66-70-69-73), placed second after round three, emerged a serious contender for the title when he birdied the 15th and 16th holes to draw level with Thangaraja. Mukesh had made two birdies and two bogeys earlier in the round.
The 17th and 18th holes provided a befitting finale to the tournament as both Thanga and Mukesh missed chip-putts to drop bogeys on the 17th and thus continued to share the lead.

The 18th hole turned out to be decisive as Mukesh hit his tee shot out of bounds and therefore conceded a double-bogey. This enabled Thanga to take home the trophy despite a three-putt for bogey on the final hole.

Thangaraja, who bagged his second professional title, said, "This win is a morale-booster for me as I hadn't won a tournament since December 2013. It's great to start the season with a victory. I'm delighted that my success this week has earned me a spot at this month's Indian Open."
"I knew Mukesh was not going to make it easy for me towards the end. But I didn't panic and put pressure on myself. I was very good around the greens today and hit only a couple of bad shots with the irons. My ball-striking was very consistent through the week," added Thangaraja, who is now the 2015 Rolex Rankings leader.

Ashok Kumar's four-under 68 was the day's best round and helped him finish joint third. Delhi's Shamim Khan and Noida golfers Rahul Bajaj and Amardip Sinh Malik were joint sixth at two-under-280.