Navratna Ahmedabad lift Louis Philippe Cup

Navratna Ahmedabad underlined their supremacy once again as they defeated strong contenders Puravankara Bangalore 2-1 in the strokeplay final of the 3rd Louis Philippe Cup golf tournament at the par-70 Bombay Presidency Golf Club, Chembur, here today.
In the Rs 1.2 crore prize money tournament, the Ahmedabad team received the winners cheque of Rs 36 lakh, while runners-up Bangalore pocketed Rs 24 lakhs. Krish Colombo, who finished at third place, went home richer by Rs 18 lakhs.
The Navratna team had earlier clinched the title when they defeated the same opponents, Bangalore, 3-0 on their home turf in the first edition of the IPL-style tournament.

Today Navratna owed much of their success to their Sri Lankan pro Mithun Perera, who sunk a crucial birdie on the par-5 18th hole to finish with a card of two-under-68 and score over M Dharma, who made some costly mistakes including a triple bogey on the par-4 9th hole.
However, Dharma still managed to complete the round with a score of one-under-69 to lose the tie narrowly.
Perera, thus, completed a hat-trick of titles in three weeks having won the Eagleburg Open in Bangalore and Standard Chartered Open in Colombo.

Earlier, Navratna captain Vikrant Chopra lost the opening singles to Puravankara's Anirban Lahiri, India's top-ranked golfer in the world at 108.

The Bangalore professional made five birdies and an equal number of bogeys for a par score of 70, while Chopra had just two birdies and three bogeys to finish at 71.
The second singles was also a close contest won by Vinod Kumar, which helped Ahmedabad restore parity in the contest.
Kumar put up a fine display on the back nine, hitting four birdies for a score of two-under-68, while his rival Chikkarangappa also enjoyed a good outing by firing three birdies and dropping two shots for a card of one-under-69, before losing that led to the deciding third singles in which Perera emerged winner.

Chopra later mentioned that it was a combined team effort which helped Ahmedabad to their second title triumph in the competition.