Registers nine-stroke victory over Prajapati in Kathmandu Open
Kathmandu, December 9
Former top-pro Bhuvan Nagarkoti recorded an emphatic nine-stroke victory over Dinesh Prajapati to win the Surya Nepal Kathmandu Open here at the Royal Nepal Golf Club today.
Nagarkoti carded four-under 64 in the final round for the 72-hole total of 14-under 258. Along with his 10th career title, Nagarkoti received Rs 116,000. Prajapati moved to second after he produced the best card of the day shooting six-under 62 for five-under 267 total. He earned Rs 78,000.
With a comfortable nineshot lead and no one really pushing from behind, Nagarkoti played freely and played one-under 33 on the front nine before carding three-under 31 on the latter half. He faced a bogey on the second hole before firing birdies on the third and fifth. After taking the turn, Nagarkoti carded three birdies on the 11th, 13th and 14th holes.
The real fight was for second place but Prajapati prevailed with a flawless round as Nepal No 1 pro Rai could not match his performance and squandered the two-shot lead. Prajapati carded two-under 32 on the front nine before adding four-under 30 on the latter half. He carded birdies on the second, third and sixth before dropping a shot on the ninth hole. Prajapati then left Rai way behind with four birdies on the 10th, 11th, 13thand 14th holes.
Top pro Rai, who is also playing in the Indian Tour and came here in a break, carded even-par 68 to finish third at one-under 271 and he received Rs 63,000. He carded one-under 33 on the front nine and played one-over 35 after the break. He was quite on front nine with a lone birdie on the eighth hole. On the back nine, Rai carded birdies on the 11th, 13th and 16th but faced bogeys on the 15th and 17th apart from suffering a double bogey in the final hole.
Rabi Khadka, who led for the first two rounds before faltering on the third day, finished fourth at three-over 275 after he shot four-over 72 in the final round. He earned Rs 50,000. Ramesh Adhikari played one-over 69 to finish fifth at 277 and he got Rs 43,000. Krishna Man Rajbahak, Surya Prasad Sharma, Pradip Kumar Lama, Jayram Shrestha and Dhana Bahadur Thapa finished in top 10.
Ajit BK from Pokhara won the amateur section title. He played six-over 74 in the final round and posted 72-hole total of 17-over 289. He registered a 22-stroke victory over Suresh Tamang, who played four-over 72 in final round for 311.
In all, 31 pros and five amateurs participated in the season-opening event of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2022-23 that carried a cash purse of Rs 670,000. Marketing Manager of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd Keshav Pradhan and President of PGA Nepal Rabindra Man Shrestha gave away prizes to the winners.
