Sixteen-year-old Pune golfing sensation Tanmay Negi continued to remain in the hunt for a podium finish with a 4 over 75 performance on Day 3 of the IGU Maharashtra junior boys golf championship 2019 held at the Poona Golf Course in Yerwada on Thursday.
Negi started the day on a slow note, ducking bogeys on holes 1, 3 and 4. However, he quickly seemed to get his act together, playing bogey-free for the remainder of the holes on the front 9.
After the break, Negi seemed a bit different, hitting the ball cleanly into the green and even managed a birdie on the 17th hole.
Ending the day as the highest-ranked Pune player in his age group, Negi said, “The first four holes were actually pretty disappointing. I did not manage to gain the momentum I needed to have a good day. After that, I managed to get in the slot and started playing better. I was going to shot a 1 under in the back 9, but I bogeyed my final hole.”
The teenage golfer teed off at 9:42 am and stated that it wasn’t as windy as it was on Wednesday. However, closer to noon it began to pick up which put him at a slight disadvantage compared to the players that teed off before him.
{{/usCountry}}The teenage golfer teed off at 9:42 am and stated that it wasn’t as windy as it was on Wednesday. However, closer to noon it began to pick up which put him at a slight disadvantage compared to the players that teed off before him.
{{/usCountry}}Over the three days, Negi’s score has gone up to 11 over 224, placing him sixth on the leaderboard in category A (16 to18 years).
He is currently hot on the tails of Delhi’s Raghav Chugh and Karnataka’s Ananjan Kaushik (both tied 4th at 8 over 221). Another Delhi golfer Shaurya Bhattacharya is within touching distance sitting at third place with a score of 7 over 220 at the end of Day 3.
In category B (13 to 15 years), Pune golfers Shlok Jain and Sudaay Chaloo put in mediocre performances to remain a country mile behind the leader Milind Soni from Karnataka who submitted a par 71 card to end Day 3 with a par-213 score.
Jain hit two bogeys and birdied one on the front 9 to put himself in contention for a podium finish, but due to some questionable stroke play on the back 9 which saw him commit a plethora of errors saw him nail two double bogeys along with a couple of bogeys to end the day in 6th place with a 24 over 237 score.
Chaloo, on the other hand, began the first, third and fourth holes of the day with a bogey before hitting a double bogey on hole 5.
In the back 9, he seemed to opt for safe gameplay, but the damage from the first 9 holes had already taken its toll as the youngster ended the day in 9th spot with a 26-over 239 score.
Shlok Jain: “It was an average day but I putted better in the back 9 than I previously have and I felt my approach shots could’ve been better. It was towards the back end at the 16th and 18th where I hit double bogeys and that put me out of contention.”
Sudaay Chaloo: “My performance was all right. I made a few silly mistakes at the start and could’ve improved. The greens were playing really quick and the fairways were playing pretty good too. If I would’ve found some more fairways I could’ve played better for sure.”