Faldo Series India-Championship age-group winners (from left) Milind Soni, Yuvraj Singh, Aryan Roopa Anand, Hunar Mittal and Smriti Bhargav
Caption: Faldo Series India Championship age group winners (from left) Milind Soni, Yuvraj Singh, Aryan Roopa Anand, Hunar Mittal and Smriti Bhargav
Greater Noida, India, Jan 14: Hunar Mittal from Chandigarh upstaged the newly-crowned national champion Sneha Singh to win the weather-hit IIFL Faldo Series India Championship. The tournament, part of the 2019-20 Faldo Series Asia season was decided over 45 holes.
Heavy rain and strong winds forced the opening round to be reduced to nine holes at Jaypee Greens.
The event that was sanctioned by the Indian Golf Union (IGU).
The 15-year-old Mittal put together a one-under-par 71 giving her an aggregate of 182. It was also the score put up by Milind Soni, but Mittal was named winner on a count back on the final round score.
The 18-year-old Aryan Roopa Anand, winner of the men’s All India Championship aggregated 186 in his 45 holes and topped the standings in the Boys’ Under-18 segment.
Mittal started playing golf at the age of five at the Chandigarh Golf Association Range and went on to become the top ranked golfer in the under-nine category in the IGU Feeder Tour in 2014. In 2016, she won the US Kids Golf Tournament in Venice, Italy.
At Jaypee Greens, Mittal, ranked seventh in the IGU Junior Tour rankings, beat Sneha Singh, who last month won the All India Championship.
Sneha had a tough time with the winds and ended 11 shots behind Mittal, whom she had beaten into second place at last year’s Northern India Ladies & Girls tournament. Sneha had won four of the previous five events in which she’d competed, rising to 320th in The R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The Boys winner Aryan has also now earned himself a return trip to the 14th Faldo Series Asia Grand Final to be hosted by six-time Major champion Sir Nick Faldo at Vietnam’s award-winning Laguna Lăng Cô from March 4-6.
The Bangalore-based Anand took up the game at eight and won the Singapore Junior Championship and the Gujarat Amateur.
Joining Anand, Mittal and Soni (Boys Under-16 winner) in Vietnam this year will be Yuvraj Singh (Boys’ Under-21 winner) and Smriti Bhargav (Girls’ Under-21 winner).
The 2019-20 Faldo Series Asia season is supported by The R&A and endorsed by the Asian Tour and the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation. The International Junior Golf Academy is a partner of the Faldo Series.
Recognised as the only global amateur series for boys and girls, the Faldo Series was established in 1996, expanding to Asia in 2006.
Faldo Series India Championship, leading final scores:
Boys’ Under-21: 183 – Yuvraj Singh (36-72-75).
Boys’ Under-18: 186 – Aryan Roopa Anand (39-72-75).
Boys’ Under-16: 182 – Milind Soni (38-71-73).
Girls’ Under-21: 185 – Smriti Bhargav (37-77-71).
Girls’ Under-16: 182 – Hunar Mittal (37-74-71)
