India’s Shiv Kapur completed his lifelong dream of winning at the Delhi Golf Club when he won the Panasonic Open India with a final round four-under-par 68Â on Sunday.
While Kapur’s two previous Asian Tour titles were won in Thailand and Chinese Taipei, the Panasonic Open India title was Kapur’s first professional victory at the Delhi Golf Club, which is also his home course.
The title race was evenly poised at the turn with only a single shot separating the leaders at the top of the leaderboard. But it was Kapur who eventually broke away from the chasing pack when he fired four birdies on holes 11, 12, 14 and 15 to sign off with a winning total of 17-under-par 271.
American Paul Peterson’s chase for his first Asian Tour title fell short after he marked his card with three birdies and two bogeys to fall off the pace.
Peterson had to settle for a share of second place with six other players that included compatriots S.S.P. Chawrasia and Ajeetesh Sandhu at the US$400,000 event.
The Panasonic Open India is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and is the second leg of the Panasonic Swing, which is an aggregate points race that spans five events – in Thailand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan.Â
Did you know?
- The Delhi Golf Club (DGC) is Shiv Kapur’s home course and his Panasonic Open India victory is his first as a professional at DGC.
- With his win, Kapur moved to the top of the Panasonic Swing, which is an aggregate points race that spans five events – in Thailand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan and where Asian Tour players have an opportunity to shoot for a share of the lucrative bonus pool.
- With Kapur’s victory this week, Australia’s Wade Ormsby remains the only international player to have won the Panasonic Open India in 2013.
- Indians continue to dominate the leaderboard with only Paul Peterson of the United States breaking into the top-10.
- With his Panasonic Open India finish, Ajeetesh Sandhu has enjoyed another tied-second finish since his breakthrough at the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship in Chinese Taipei last month.
- Sandhu went on to secure a play-off win on the Japan Challenge Tour immediately after his victory in Chinese Taipei and finished runner-up in Macao last month.
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Players’ Quotes
Shiv Kapur (Ind) Fourth round 68 (-4), Total 271 (-17)
It’s an amazing feeling. This victory has not really sunk in yet but when I was walking down the 18th, I was really trying to hold back the emotions. I was telling myself just finish the race, finish the race and it’s just amazing to be able to do it. To be able to win in front of all my friends and family is wonderful. I grew up playing golf here and told myself I got to win at the Delhi Golf Club one day. So no words can actually describe how I’m feeling right now. The reception I got when I was coming up the 18 was just amazing. It was well worth the wait. I was very aggressive the first few days but I had a pretty conservative strategy today. I just wanted to eliminate the mistakes on the card and I started off playing really steady. I had a three-putt on 10 which sort of got me going. I was like come on, I can do this. I birdied 11 followed by 12 and then 14 and 15. When I stood at the leaderboard on 14, I said to myself I got to take the tournament by the throat. I’m not going to play conservatively anymore and I took out my driver. I attacked the flag all the way coming in and that aggressive golf paid off. It’s amazing to have two wins this year and I’ve to thank a lot of people for believing in me and supporting me. The form is good and the confidence is high, so there’s no reason why I cannot win again.
S.S.P. Chawrasia (Ind) Fourth round 69 (-3), Total 274 (-14)
It was a good week. I missed out on another win by three shots but overall I’m playing well and that’s a good sign. I also chasing the Order of Merit title and playing for a place at the EurAsia Cup and that’s why I’m here. There are still four more events left on the Asian Tour for me and all I need is one good week in any of these events and I could be up there.
Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind), Fourth round 65 (-7), Total 274 (-14)
I’m very happy with how I played all week. I would have taken this score, 14-under at the start of the week. I hit the ball to the centre of the green on 17 and made a very slow putt from there. I misread the greens and left it a little bit too short. But I finished off strongly which was good. This result will help with my movement on the Order of Merit. I’ve been playing pretty well ever since my win in Chinese Taipei and it’s good to see yourself in contention every week.
Chiragh Kumar (Ind), Fourth round 64 (-8), Total 274 (-14)
I started off the tournament with a bang and unfortunately I couldn’t finish off the first day the way I wanted to as I finished with a double and ended the opening round four shots back. Unfortunately I couldn’t get anything into the hole on the second and third day. But today was great as I hit the ball well and putted well. I haven’t had the best of years so far but this finish is really going to move me up the Order of Merit. We got a few good events coming up which will put me in a good mix.
Leading scores after round 4 of the Panasonic Open India 2017 being played at the par 72, 6935 Yards Delhi GC course (am – denotes amateur):
271 – Shiv KAPUR (IND) 65-69-69-68.
274 – Chiragh KUMAR (IND) 68-71-71-64, Ajeetesh SANDHU (IND) 64-73-72-65, Karandeep KOCHHAR (IND) 71-68-69-66, S.S.P. CHAWRASIA (IND) 67-69-69-69, Sudhir SHARMA (IND) 69-70-66-69, Om Prakash CHOUHAN (IND) 70-69-66-69, Paul PETERSON (USA) 69-64-70-71.
276 – Honey BAISOYA (IND) 69-68-71-68, Shamim KHAN (IND) 66-69-69-72.
278 – Prom MEESAWAT (THA) 69-71-71-67.
279 – Angad CHEEMA (IND) 73-70-71-65, Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) 70-70-72-67, N. THANGARAJA (SRI) 75-69-67-68, Thaworn WIRATCHANT (THA) 67-71-68-73.
280 – Manu GANDAS (IND) 72-67-71-70, Aman RAJ (IND) 66-73-69-72.
281 – Sihwan KIM (USA) 72-71-70-68, Shubhankar SHARMA (IND) 69-74-69-69, Divyanshu BAJAJ (IND) 68-68-72-73.
282 – M. DHARMA (IND) 70-70-73-69, Mukesh KUMAR (IND) 72-69-71-70, Rahil GANGJEE (IND) 73-67-71-71, Suradit YONGCHAROENCHAI (THA) 73-71-64-74.
283 – Mithun PERERA (SRI) 73-69-71-70.
