Karan Pratap Singh prevails by two shots at Kapil Dev Grant Thornton Invitational 2023

Gurugram's Karan Pratap Singh (68-71-70) mastered the conditions at his home course in the third and last round to end up with a winning total of seven under 209. Karan thus bagged his second career title, also his second of the season and bagged the winning cheque worth INR 30 lakh that pushed him up three spots to second place in the PGTI Ranking as his season's earnings reached INR 72,33,173. The winner also earned himself a four-wheeler.

The trio of Andorra's Kevin Esteve Rigaill (72-70-69), Gurugram's Sunhit Bishnoi (69-70-72) and Delhi-based Rashid Khan (68-70-73) finished joint runners-up at five-under 211.

Karan Pratap Singh, who was overnight tied second and one off the lead, had a steady start on Saturday being one-under after three holes. The 23-year-old who turned pro in 2019, then dropped a bogey on the sixth but bounced back with a birdie on the eighth, something he managed to do through the week.

An erratic tee shot on the 11th saw Singh take a penalty drop that resulted in a bogey and he was in some sort of trouble at that stage. But Karan made a crucial par putt from 20 feet on the 14th that changed the course of the match. He then scored two more birdies on the 15th and 18th, converting a 10-footer on the latter, to walk away with the trophy.

While speaking to ANI, Karan said, "It feels amazing winning this. Definitely, it is a surreal feeling and just want to thank everybody for all the support and hard work all these years and I owe them a lot. This is just a payback from my side to them. So, really happy."

When asked about Yuvraj Singh and Kapil Dev's presence at the final round of the tournament, the winner replied, "They are cricketing legends we have seen them on TV holding the World Cup for India and to see them here on the golf course tournament side I think it's huge for our golfers and golf in India and hats off to them for supporting golf."

Sunhit Bishnoi (72) and overnight leader Rashid Khan (73), the leaders for most part of the final day, slipped down the leaderboard with consecutive bogeys on the 16th and 17th that dashed the duo's title hopes.

Rookie Kevin Esteve Rigaill (69), who was overnight tied fifth, came up with four birdies and a bogey in his round of 69 to move up three spots on the last day and record his best finish on the PGTI.

Om Prakash Chouhan, who finished tied 22nd at four-over 220, continues to lead the TATA Steel PGTI Ranking with season's earnings of INR 98,80,559.

Yuvraj Singh came to the tournament to felicitate the players, he said, "I think it is very good. It is very motivating for youngsters. Kapil Paaji has been playing golf for a long time. It is great what he is doing for youngsters I heard the prize money was double. It is important that these young players have motivation. They have the money, they have the facilities to play on international courses. They need that confidence, they need the support."

The final day also witnessed the Pro-Am Team Championship which featured teams with two professionals and two amateurs each. The professionals and amateurs played alongside each other in this format.

The winning team at the Pro-Am Team Championship was of professionals Chikkarangappa and Gaurav Pratap Singh and amateurs Sanjay Gupta and Mahavir Singhvi. They had a total score of six under.

The runner-up team consisted of Angad Cheema (Pro), Ashok Kumar (Pro), Vijay Thomas (Am) and Sachin Mehta (Am). They totalled five under. The third-placed team consisted of Mari Muthu R (Pro), Abhinav Lohan (Pro), Arjun Nohwar (Am) and Punit Beriwala (Am) who totalled two under. (ANI)