Finalists at 2023 All India – Subhash Tamang and Rohit
Kolkata: India’s Rohit moved into the finals of the Indian Golf Union’s 122nd Amateur Golf Championship of India at The RCGC, Kolkata. Rohit, who has played on numerous IGU teams showed that he has matured into a fine golfer with a series of wins that have taken him into the final.
Rohit, the only Indian left in the semi-finals, beat Jordan Clay Burnand of South Africa 2&1 in the semi-finals.
In the other semi-final, Subhash Tamang, who is trained by former Indian pro, Tarun Sardesai, beat top seeded Altin Van Der Merwe of South Africa 3&1. The final will be played over 36 holes in two sessions on Sunday.
Rohit and Tamang were seeded third and fourth after the strokeplay. The top two were Van Der Merwe, who topped the 36-hole strokeplay section and Shat Mishra was second.
While Shat lost in the pre-quarters, Van der Merwe’s run came to an end in the semi-finals.
Rohit will take on Nepal’s Subhash Tamang, who has been in great form since he finished fourth in the strokeplay segment.
South Africa who had two players in the semi-finals, saw both of them lose out and the final will be between India and Nepal.
Rohit, who has done well on the IGU circuit, beat Rohan Singh Rana 3&1 in the first round and then added the scalp of Anshul Khabthiyal 3&2. Thereafter in the quarter-finals be moved past Jujhar Singh on the 18th hole and finally in the semi-finals he beat South Africa’s Burnand 2&1.
In the earlier rounds of the event, Tamang beat Kanav Chauhan on the first extra hole, the 19th in the first round. After a tight first round, he outclassed Vishesh Sharma 4&3 in the pre-quarter finals. Then in the quarters Tamang beat Dhruv Suri by a similar margin of 4&3. In the semi-finals, Tamang kept his nose ahead for most part of the match.
The match play segment was arrived at following 36-hole stroke play segment. The top 32 players moved into the second stage with 16 pairings in Round 1.
The team event, which forms part of the stroke play, was won by South Africans Van der Merwe and Jordan Clay Burnand with a total of 2-under 286. India’s Sandeep Yadav and Rohit were second at 294 and India B comprising Vinamra Anand and Shaurya Bhattacharya were third at 295.
The All India Amateur Championships is India’s oldest golf tournament having started in 1892. The Championships were not held during the two World War and was cancelled once in 2020 due to Covid.
The event, which has a rich history, has produced India’s very best, who have gone on to become India’s top professional golfers with numerous international titles. Former champions include Amandeep Johl (1989), (Jyoti Randhawa (1993), Rahul Ganapathy (1999), S Chikkarangappa (2009 and 2010), Shubhankar Sharma (2012), Karandeep Kochhar (2016) and Aryan Roopa Anand (2019 and 2021) are among past winners, while almost all top Indian pros have played the event.
The 2011 Masters champion, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, won the All India Amateurs in 2001.
