Bangalore, Aug 10 (IANS) Lying third overnight, Sri Lankan Anura Rohana fired a three-under 69 to script a fascinating come-from-behind victory in the PGTI Players Golf Championship here Friday.
Rohana finished with a total score of seven-under-281 while Bangalore’s Anirban Lahiri, who led the field after third round, shot a two-over 74 to come in second, one stroke behind the Sri Lankan.
Rohana (71-73-68-69), who started the day four shots behind the leader Lahiri, suffered an early setback when he three-putted for bogey on the first hole. A birdie on the third followed by another bogey on the eighth resulted in Rohana making the turn at one-over for the day.
However, Rohana, the 38-year-old from Colombo, picked up four birdies on his last six holes, including a couple of magnificent chip-putts on the 13th and 16th and fired it in within five feet for birdies on the 14th and 18th.
Rohana, thus, wrapped up his fourth professional title (second on PGTI) and climbed from 46th to 13th place on the PGTI’s Rolex Rankings for 2012. He picked up the first prize of Rs 4,84,950.
Lahiri (71-68-69-74) ended up in second place after he shot a 74 in round four with three birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey. He had his chances on the final day, but could not recover from bogeys on the seventh and 11th and the double-bogey on the ninth.
Sri Lankan Mithun Perera (73-68-73-69) and Delhi’s Rashid Khan (67-71-71-74) were also in contention on the final day, but their challenge ended when both bogeyed the 17th. Perera and Khan finished tied third at five-under-283.
Ajeetesh Sandhu (287) of Chandigarh and Digvijay Singh (288) of the DLF Golf and Country Club, a winner on the Asian Tour this year, finished fifth and sixth.
Syed Saqib Ahmed from Bangalore, the lone amateur to make the cut, won the trophy for the best performance by an amateur.
