KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 12

Top Nepali pro Sukra Bahadur Rai earned a share of 17th place in the Telangana Golconda Masters at the Hyderabad Golf Association course today and sneaked into the top 60 in Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) Order of Merit.

Rai carded second straight one-under 69 to post the 72-hole total of five-under 275. He was tied with five Indian golfers - pros Sunhit Bishnoi (69), Akshay Sharma (70), Hardik Chawda (71) and Mohd Azhar (72) and amateur Milind Soni (72). Rai and four Indian pros earned IRS 53,640 each.

Nepal No 1 pro Rai carded a total of seven birdies in the fourth and final round. He played even-par 34 on the front nine before carding one-under 35 on the latter half. He faced a bogey on the fourth and a double bogey on next hole against birdies on the third, sixth and eighth holes. After taking the turn, Rai carded birdies on the 10th, 12th, 13th and 17th holes but dropped one shot each on the 12th, 15th and 16th holes.

With four tournaments remaining in the season, Rai improved seven places in the Order of Merit and sneaked into top 60 for the first time. Rai, who is playing in his first season of the Indian Tour, has made one top 10 finish in 15 events.

He has so far made cuts in eight events earning a total of IRS 462,198. After the completion of the season, top 60 pros will keep their cards for the next year.

Indian pro Manu Gandas won the tournament with an impressive total of 23-under 257. He carded one-under 69 in the final round. Yuvraj Singh Sandhu came second at 21-under 269 after he carded five-under 65.

Syed Saqib Ahmed was the distant third at 13-under 267, while Jairaj Singh (68) came fourth at 268 and Angad Cheema (69) finished fifth at 11-under 269.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 13, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.