SSP Chowrasia scored a memorable home victory in the Avantha Masters at DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi. The Indian beat Robert Coles of England by a single shot.
Chowrasia started the final round two strokes behind Coles but he quickly moved into the lead by notching up seven birdies in his first 14 holes.
At that point the 32-year-old looked to be cruising to victory, but a pulled tee shot at the par-3 16th led to a double bogey and Chowrasia's lead was gone.
Robert Coles, who led after three rounds, remained Chowrasia's closest challenger through the Indian's early round birdie blitz. The Englishman produced some fireworks of his own when he spun his approach to the 7th back into the hole for an eagle.
Chowrasia closed with two pars after his blunder at the 16th and set a clubhouse target of 15-under-par. At that stage Coles was on the same number.
The Englishman fired a good approach into the 15th but failed to convert for birdie, he then missed another opportunity on the 17th.
Coles needed a birdie on the par-5 last to win the title outright and just a par to force a playoff. He fired his drive down the middle but then put his second into the rough by the side of the green.
From a difficult lie he then overcooked his third shot and it ran 20 feet by the hole. He raced his birdie effort past the cup again and then missed from eight feet to gift the title to Chowrasia.
"The ball was really far below my feet and it was just a really awkward shot," Coles said of his third at the 18th. "I needed to get underneath to get it up in the air but the ground was rock hard and it just kind of flew on me a bit. Then I got over the putt and I was still thinking I could make it and win the tournament, But I just hit it so hard and it flew out of the middle of the putter and then I obviously missed the one coming back... It's obviously disappointing and I don't feel too bad right now but I will probably feel a lot worse tomorrow when it sinks in. I did have a great chance to win."
Avantha Masters DLF Golf and Country Club, New Delhi, India Feb 17-20, purse €1,800,000, par 72
1 SSP Chowrasia (Ind) 70 69 67 67 273 €300,000 2 Robert Coles (Eng) 70 67 67 70 274 €200,000 3 Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 67 68 68 275 €112,680 4 Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 66 73 68 69 276 €90,000 T5 Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 69 70 66 72 277 €69,660 T5 Sujjan Singh (Ind) 69 69 68 71 277 €69,660 T7 Chinnarat Phdungsil (Tha) 70 68 71 69 278 €49,500 T7 Mark F Haastrup (Den) 71 66 68 73 278 €49,500 T9 Angelo Que (Phi) 71 68 68 72 279 €38,160 T9 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 65 72 70 279 €38,160
Note: Player in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only Where Next? Amateurs: New ranking website launched April: Golf Monthly issue news
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