Kathmandu, January 25

Nepal No 1 pro Shivaram Shrestha defeated Bhuwan Nagarkoti in the penultimate hole to win the Surya Nepal NPGA Match Play here at the Royal Nepal Golf Club today.

Shrestha, who was 4-Up at one stage, almost squandered the lead before completing the victory on the 35th hole of the 36-hole contest against the third-ranked Gokarna Golf Club pro Nagarkoti.

With the fourth title in five tournaments under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2018-19 season, Shrestha claimed his 40th career crown. He won the Ghana Shyam’s Professional Golden Jubilee Golf Tournament, Surya Nepal Central Open and Surya Nepal Eastern Open, while Nagarkoti claimed the Surya Nepal Challenge.

Shrestha opened up a two-hole lead on the first nine and maintained the advantage after the completion of 18 holes. He then extended the lead to four after 22 holes before Nagarkoti bounced back. Nagarkoti cut the deficit to three on the 27th hole and won the next three to level the scores with six holes remaining.

Nagarkoti should have taken the lead on the 31st but he missed a birdie putt and also muffed up another chance on the next hole. After both the players made the birdie putt on the 33rd hole, Shrestha won the next to take the lead after Nagarkoti’s approach shot fell short. On the 35th hole, Nagarkoti found the bunker with the tee shot and failed to make the par putt from 15 yards and Shrestha two-putted for a par to win the hole and the match.

Shrestha, who missed the Indian Tour Q-School cut last week, received Rs 70,000, while Nagarkoti earned Rs 40,000. Shrestha also received Rs 10,000 from golf enthusiast SK Vijay Awale for Hole-in-One feat on the 14th hole on Wednesday. Fifth-ranked Surya Prasad Sharma finished third beating seventh-ranked Rame Magar in the all-RNGC third place match and he received Rs 28,000. Magar got Rs 20,000.

Defending champion Rabi Khadka, second-ranked Sanjay Lama, Yelamber Singh Adhikari and Jayaram Shrestha — who lost in the quarter-finals — received Rs 11,000 each. Likewise, eight pros Deepak Thapa, Ram Krishna Shrestha, Pashupati Sharma, Pradeep Kumar Lama, Bikash Adhikari, Krishna Man Rajbahak, Dhana Bahadur Thapa and Bal Bhadra Rai — who lost in first round — received Rs 6,000 each.

Top 16 pros in the Order of Merit in the previous edition of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour took part in the three-day event organised by Nepal PGA under the sponsorship of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd. Marketing Manager of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd Bal Kishan Gurung, NPGA Advisor Ghana Shyam Thapa and RNGC Secretary RM Sherchan handed over the prizes to the winners of the event.