Karnal, Haryana, 26-06-2014

Arshdeep Tiwana pips Akshay Sharma by one stroke to win in Karnal

Arshdeep Tiwana (63-66-65) of the Golden Greens Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, birdied the last hole to win the PGTI Feeder Tour event at the Madhuban Meadows Golf Course in Karnal by one shot. Tiwana won the second Feeder Tour event of the season with a 10-under-194 total. Chandigarh's Akshay Sharma (63-70-62) finished runner-up at nine-under-195.

Arshdeep Tiwana, the overnight leader, completed a wire-to-wire victory on Thursday to bag his second title. The 25-year-old Tiwana, whose previous win had also been achieved on the Feeder Tour in 2010, posted a three-under-65 in the final round that included five birdies and two bogeys.

Arshdeep did not have the ideal start to the day as he had two bogeys and a birdie to his credit over the first 10 holes. He then had a flurry of birdies on the 10th, 14th, 16th and 18th. Tiwana narrowly missed an eagle from 12 feet on the 11th before making up and downs for birdies from 30 yards on the 14th and 16th. The last hole saw him convert a tough chip and putt from left of the green that helped him overtake Akshay Sharma’s total score and snatch the title.

“I was just concentrating on playing good golf and didn’t really think about the leaderboard this week. I only realized on the 11th hole that the clubhouse leader was at nine-under. Thereafter, I pushed myself and played more aggressively. Besides the four birdies on the last eight holes, I also came close to making birdies on the 12th and 17th. The putts rolled in for me in the second half of the round and I managed to raise my game at the right time,” said Tiwana.

He added, “I’ve won after a long four-year gap and this win would help me perform better on the main tour. I was playing very average golf over the last few seasons and therefore had to work a lot on my game. All the hard work seems to be paying off now.”

Akshay Sharma climbed from overnight tied ninth to second place after shooting the joint best score of the week, a six-under-62, in the final round. Sharma’s round was dotted with eight birdies and two bogeys which included four straight birdies from the 10th to the 13th. Akshay, the winner at last week’s Feeder Tour event, narrowly missed eagles on the 11th and 12th and sank a 30-footer for birdie on the 13th. The Chandigarh golfer continues to lead the Feeder Tour Order of Merit with earnings of Rs. 1,40,580 from the first two events.

Dinesh Raghuvanshi of Pune and Delhi’s Gulfam secured tied third place at eight-under-196.

Patna’s Md Nawab and Bikramjit Singh Sandhu of Bangalore were a further shot back in tied fifth.