Varun Parikh has the last laugh

Gujarat’s Varun Parikh outwitted overnight leader Basavaraj from Bengaluru on the final day to emerge the champion of the IGU Tamil Nadu men’s amateur golf championship at the par-72 Coimbatore Golf Club course in Chettipalayam here on Saturday.

Basavaraj enjoyed a two-stroke advantage at the start of the day but Varun had other ideas running in his mind. The 20-year-old BBA student from L.J. College decided to play it cool and quietly waited for Basavaraj to make the mistakes. It worked well as the latter made four bogeys and failed to convert even a single birdie right through his journey. And, that changed the course of the contest.

Varun, who carded a one-under for the day and finished with a total of four-under 284 over four days, grabbed the chance and birdied twice by the first four holes. He kept piling up the pressure on his opponent from there for the title.

“I have been reading a book on ‘Golf is not a Game of Perfect’ by Bob Rotella and I got to learn a few things. So, I just went out there with a clear mind of winning and, it worked magic for me. I knew I could do it as two strokes was nothing big to chase. Frankly speaking, I also did not have any game plan for the day,” said Varun after his victory.

He said the CGC course was something special for him. “I have played here over the last five years and have won three titles. Obviously, this is a lucky venue for me.”

Basavaraj was disappointed as he was the man in command the past two days. “I did not putt well. The bogeys in the first and third holes did the damage for me. It was not my day.”

It was a tie between Anshul Patel and Shravan Desai, both from Gujarat, for the third place. But Anshul, with a better last day score of four-under 68, finished ahead of the latter.

The scores (final day)

284: Varun Parikh (Guj) (74, 72, 67, 71); 287: Basavaraj (Kar) (71, 70, 70, 76); 289: Anshul Patel (Guj) (77, 73, 71, 68); 289: Shravan Desai (Guj) (75, 73, 69, 72).