Kolar, Aug 21 (IANS) Mohd Azhar carded a one-under 71 to claim his maiden professional title at the second edition of the Rs 1 crore Kolar Open at Zion Hills Golf County on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
The 27-year-old Hyderabad golfer (70-68-70-71) finished at nine-under 279 to secure a two-shot victory. He collected the winner’s cheque of Rs 15 lakh and climbed seven places from 17th to 10th in the 2026 DP World PGTI Order of Merit, taking his season’s earnings to Rs 35,14,675.
Chandigarh’s Angad Cheema (73-68-67-73), a four-time winner on the tour, and Delhi’s Shaurya Bhattacharya (68-67-71-75), a three-time winner, shared second place at seven-under 281.
Cheema recorded his second runner-up finish of the season, having also finished tied second at the Boulders Classic in April.
Bhattacharya began the final round with a two-shot lead and remained in control until the closing stretch. However, consecutive double bogeys on the 17th and 18th proved costly, leaving him two shots behind Azhar.
It was another close finish at Zion Hills for Bhattacharya, who also finished runner-up in the inaugural edition last year, two shots behind Kshitij Naveed Kaul.
Azhar, who joined the professional tour in 2020, began the final round two shots behind Bhattacharya. He stayed patient through testing spells of wind and rain and created enough opportunities to move ahead as the tournament reached its decisive stage.
“Today was very good and I’m extremely happy with the way I played,” said Azhar. “The conditions were difficult with the wind and rain, but I stayed patient and focused on finding greens in regulation.”
Azhar reached the par-five second in two shots and made a comfortable two-putt birdie. He then struck his approach close for a tap-in birdie on the fourth.
One of the biggest moments of his round arrived on the 12th, where he holed a putt from around 30 to 35 feet for birdie.
“I created several birdie opportunities and managed to convert enough of them,” he said. “The long putt on the 12th was one of the highlights. On the back nine, I tried to play solidly and make pars whenever a birdie opportunity was not available.”
The victory completed a significant step forward for Azhar, whose previous best result on the DP World PGTI was a tied-second finish at the Boulders Classic in April.
His breakthrough also came at an ideal time, with the tour set to travel to his hometown of Hyderabad in the coming weeks.
“This win gives me a lot of confidence for the upcoming events,” Azhar said. “I’m particularly excited about returning to Hyderabad, where both the Hyderabad Golf Association and Vooty Golf County feel like home courses to me.”
Gurugram’s Veer Ahlawat (71-71-69-71), the 2024 DP World PGTI Rankings champion, finished alone in fourth place at six-under 282.
Defending champion Kshitij Naveed Kaul (73-75-66-69) of Delhi and Badal Hossain (69-72-69-73) shared fifth place at five-under 283.
Current DP World PGTI Order of Merit leader Saptak Talwar (72-71-70-74), who spent the summer competing on the HotelPlanner Tour, finished 10th at one-under 287.
Talwar earned Rs 2 lakh and strengthened his position at the top of the rankings, taking his season’s earnings to INR 86,33,234.
–IANS
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