Local golfers make clean sweep of titles at US Kids Golf Indian C'ship

Manesar, Dec 20 (PTI) Local golfers made a clean sweep of the titles with creditable performances under challenging conditions in the weather-hit US Kids Golf Indian Championship at the Classic Golf and Country Club here on Saturday.

Nihal Cheema, Drona Singh Dhull and Prince Bainsla among the boys, and Naaysha S Sinha, Gairat Kaur Kahlon and Shiksha Jain among the girls were the outstanding performers in fifth edition of the tournament.

The final round for all sections was reduced to nine holes by the Tournament Committee as there was insufficient daylight after a delayed start.

Cheema, in Boys 8, was the only player to shoot par or better on all three days as he emerged a runaway winner over his main rival Zowra Sikand. Chandigarh lad Cheema had rounds of 36-34-33 in his 9-hole rounds. On the final day he was bogey free and had three birdies.

Another fine performer was Haryana golfer Dhull, who birdied four of the nine holes in Boys 11 category. He shot the best round of the day at 4-under 32 for nine holes with four birdies and no bogeys.

Bainsla, who had the best round of the week among all players with a 6-under 66 on the first day, won the Boys 15-18 ahead of Shashank Sachin Gadre, who had par scores on all three days. Arshvant Srivastava was third.

The standout players among girls include Aanya Dandriyal in Girls 11-12 and Preitisha Kaur Gill in Girls 15-18.

Aanya Dandriyal and Malaysia’s Choi Quinn Cie were involved in a close battle with both totalling 196 for 45 holes. The tie-breaker was won by Aanya, who in her regulation round had an eagle and a birdie against four bogeys.

Among the other outstanding performers of the week were Naaysha S Sinha in Girls 8, Gairat Kaur Kahlon in Girls 9-10 and Shiksha Jain in Girls 13-14.

Among the other stars in the Boys section were Taanush Kumar in Boys 9, Vedaansh Jain in Boys 10, Siddhant Sharma in Boys 12 and Arihaan Beri in Boys 13-14.

For the first time, all winners up to the fifth place were given cash prizes. The winners received Rs. 25,000, while the second and third place finishers got Rs. 10,000 each and the next three places were rewarded with Rs. 5,000 each. PTI Corr PDS PDS PDS