KATHMANDU, APRIL 1
Nepali professional golfer Sukra Bahadur Rai played three-over 75 on the final day to drop 16 places down to tied 38th in the Gurugram Challenge at the Classic Golf and Country Club in Nuh, Haryana today.
Rai, who had moved up to joint 22nd after second successive four-under 68 in the third round, suffered five bogeys against two birdies in the final round. He began the day with two straight bogeys before carding a birdie on the fourth. He faced another bogey on the sixth on his way to playing two-over 38 on the front nine.
After taking the turn, Rai dropped shots on the 13th and 17th holes before closing the day with a birdie as he finished the back nine at one-over 37. Rai shared the 38th position with Indian trio Trishul Chinappa, Sunhit Bishnoi and Ranjit Singh along with Bangladesh's Badal Hossain.
The Dharan Golf Club pro said he had a bad day with putter. "I hit shots well and regulation was also satisfactory. But I putted badly today," said Rai, who earned IRs 38,306 for a total of IRs 69,973 from three events. He will now participate in the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship slated for April 12-15 at the Chandigarh Golf Club.
Rai had faltered badly in the last two rounds of the two previous events after making the cut.
Rai, who has bagged five major titles back home in the Surya Nepal Golf Tour, earned the full cards of PGTI from the Qualifying School and made the cut in two of the three previous events.
Dodge Kemmer of the United States won the tournament with the total score of 23-under 265.
He carded six-under 66 in the final round to beat Thailand's Chanat Sakulpolaphaisan, who moved to second after carding four-under 68 for 268. India's Arjun Bhati (66) finished third at 270, while Indonesian Roro Hie – who led for the first three rounds – played one-over 71 on the final day and he shared the fourth position with Indian Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (67) and Joshua Grenville-Wood (68) of England at 17-under 271.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 2, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
