Manu Gandas wins the USHA-IGU juniors golf title

New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) Manu Gandas handled his nerves to overcome a late stumble and won the USHA Delhi IGU Juniors, the season's opening junior golf tournament at the Army Golf Club here Friday.

Gandas, who was lying second overall after the third round, carded a final round of 73 and finished three shots clear of second place bunch of three golfers, Honey Baisoya (71), Shubhankar Sharma (74) and Abhishek Kuhar (75), all of whom ended at 294.

Gandas was flawless on the front nine as he went through the stretch in one-under. On the back nine, he opened a big lead and seemed to be coasting till he came to the par-3 16th, which he double bogeyed. He again bogeyed the 17th, but held his nerve to birdie the 18th and win the title.

The fast-charging Baisoya carded an excellent 71, his second successive sub-par round, but his first round of 77 cost him dearly. The aggressive Baisoya had seven birdie in his 71 but he also gave up two double bogeys. He had three birdies on front nine and four on back nine.

Viraj Madappa, topper in Category B, had a tough final round of 77 and that saw him drop down the leaderboard to tied second in overall standings, but he did win Category B's top prize.

Around 96 golfers started off in Category A (Age group 15-17) and Category B (Age group 13-14). The tournament was played in stroke play format with an over all winner being declared apart from the winners in different A and B categories.