Kolar, Aug 29 Delhi’s Kshitij Naveed Kaul snatched victory with an incredible late flourish at the Rs 1 crore Kolar Open 2025, being played at the ZION Hills Golf County, Kolar, Karnataka.
Kaul (74-69-71-65), who was overnight fifth and six shots off the lead, staged an unbelievable comeback on day four with a tournament low of seven-under 65 highlighted by three birdies and an eagle on the last four holes that took his total to nine-under 279 and gave him a two-shot victory on the most windy day of the week when the wind speed crossed 30 km per hour.
It was 24-year-old Kaul’s fifth professional win. His winning cheque of Rs 15 lakh pushed him up five spots to eighth position on the PGTI Order of Merit with his season’s earnings moving to Rs 48,00,847.
Shaurya Bhattacharya (70-72-66-73), another Delhi-based professional and the overnight leader by three shots, posted a final round of 73 to finish runner-up at seven-under 281. Shaurya thus climbed four spots to sixth position in the PGTI Order of Merit.
Gurugram’s Dhruv Sheoran (67) signed off in third place at four-under 284.
Pune’s Udayan Mane, who set the course record of 67 in round two, carded a 74 in the fourth round to close the week in tied fourth at three-under 285. Honey Baisoya (72) of the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurugram, also took a share of fourth place.
Nepal’s Subash Tamang, who was playing at his home course this week, finished sixth at two-under 286.
Kaul announced himself as a contender early in the day when he produced some fabulous drives and wedge-play to pick up four birdies on the first six holes. He then endured a tough stretch dropping three straight bogeys from seven to the ninth as a result of finding the water hazard once and missing a couple of short putts. However, he did recover well after finding the water on the seventh to make an 18-footer for bogey.
After draining a birdie on the 10th, Kaul, who won his last title in November last year, came up with a dream finish when he sank a couple of long birdie putts on the 15th and 16th and followed that up with a chip-in for birdie on the 17th and a mammoth 30-feet eagle conversion on the 18th.
Kaul, armed with a hot putter, thus turned the tables on Shaurya Bhattacharya, the leader for most part of the day, right at the end. With the rule of preferred lie in application in round four, Kaul’s 65 did not count as a course record.
He said, “I stayed patient all day and focused on hitting quality shots. All aspects of my game were sharp this week especially the driving and putting. All the work done in the off-season seems to have paid off. It’s nice to win in tough conditions such as these. It makes the win all that more satisfying.
“In the final stretch, I was just trying to hit one good shot after another. The winds made it very challenging to control the distance and dispersion of the ball. But I knew if I kept producing good shots, I would finally come through.”
Shaurya Bhattacharya made three birdies and bogeys each on the front-nine to hold on to his lead. However, he stumbled with three bogeys between the 11th and 15th after which he couldn’t recover despite two birdies on the last three holes.
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