Finally, the four-year waits end, Kochhar pockets maiden pro-title

In November 2016, Kolkota, then at 17 years and 4 months, Karandeep Kochhar turned the primary beginner to win the PGTI (Professional Golf Tour of India) title. The efforts additionally acquired him to raised Shubhankar Sharma’s report of 17 years and eight months to develop into the nation’s youngest to win the title. Kochhar turned skilled the very subsequent 12 months in February.

Now, after a protracted wait of virtually 4 years, 45 tournaments within the PGTI circuit, lastly, Kochhar received his maiden professional title on the Tata Steel Players Championship 2020 offered by the Chandigarh Golf Club on Thursday.

The chief of the final two days, Kochhar taking full benefit of his dwelling course, performed a spherical of three-under-69 to finish his tally at 18-under-270 to pocket the winner’s cheque of Rs 4.84 lakh. Kolkota’s Sunit Chowrasia completed second at 16-under-272, whereas one other Chandigarh golfer and final occasion’s winner Akshay Sharma completed third at 14-under-274.

“It’s obviously a long awaited win. It’s been almost four years since I turned professional, I was searching for this opportunity. In the past, I came close to winning and finished at second place three-four times. I was even placed second last week in Panchkula and that built my momentum for this win. I am really happy for today’s victory and being my first pro title, it will always remain a special for me in the years to come,” stated elated Kochhar. “Though over the years I was not able to win the title, I remained very calm, focused and kept on working on my game. And today, finally, I am able to break the jinx.”

Overall I’m in a greater form

Kochhar began the match with six-under-66 and maintained his consistency until the top (66-68-67-69). In the match, he had simply two bogeys. “I have put in a lot of work in the past two-three months, especially in the gym and that has helped me a lot. My confidence is up, I am much healthier, have changed my lifestyle, the way I eat, the way I sleep and the way I work. Overall I am in a better shape. In the last two-months I had played a lot of golf at my home course and have been very much familiar with the course. And our weekly in-house pro tournaments at Chandigarh Golf Club also helped me to prepare better for the tournament,” stated Kochhar, who’s visiting the course together with his grandfather Dr GS Kochhar since he was little above three.

He began the game at an early age and had been the highest ranked golfer within the age group classes within the beginner circuit. He additionally received the 116th All-India Amateur Championship in December 2016, earlier than turning skilled. Since childhood, Kochhar’s life revolves round golf and he even took a break from research after his 12th board exams, in order that he may focus solely on the game. “Golf is very important for me and my life revolves around it. My entire day goes to the sport and after 12th board I had taken a break from the studies. But now, I will pursue my graduation from next year,” stated Kochhar. “I will take a few days break, after that I along with my coach (Jesse Grewal) will do analysis of my game and will work on my shortcomings or wherever we need to improve. My next target is the Jeev invitational tournament to be held next month in Chandigarh.”

Chowrasia performed as we speak’s finest card of 10-under-62 and in addition broke the earlier course report of 8-under-64 collectively held by Rashid Khan, Sudhir Sharma and Abhijit Singh Chadha.

Chandigarh golfer Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (67) and Gurugram’s Veer Ahlawat (70) had been joint fourth at 13-under-275.

Abhijit Singh Chadha (66) in tied sixth at 11-under-277 and Aadil Bedi (68) in tied 10th at nine-under-279 had been the opposite two native gamers within the top-10.