Gandas clinches junior title

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Manu Gandas (right) and Kartik Sharma, winner of the Category A and B at the Usha-IGU Delhi junior golf championship, pose with

Teenage golfer Manu Gandas came up with a brilliant finish with three birdies in the last four holes on the final day to win the Usha-IGU Delhi junior title at the Qutub Golf Course in the capital on Friday.

The 16-year-old Gandas, who was third at the Usha-IGU Haryana juniors earlier, carded a final round of two-under 68 and finished at five-over 285 to earn the title by four shots.
Piyush Sangwan (70) was second, while overnight leader Tutul Ali (75) and first round leader Rohan Rana (71) finished in a tie for third.
Sangwan totalled 289, while Tutul and Rana aggregated 290 each.
Mohan Sardar crashed to a 76 in the final round to drop to fifth at 292 and Harsh Gangwar (74) was tied at sixth with Shubham Narain (75) at 294.
Gandas, starting the final day two shots behind leader Tutul and one behind Sardar, bogeyed the second hole and parred the rest of the front nine to turn in one-over 36.
With Tutul and Sardar, his playing partners carding five-over 40 for the front stretch, Gandas had already moved into the lead. On the back stretch, Gandas again played steady golf with pars right through till the 14th by which time Tutul and Sardar had dropped further behind and Sangwan had moved into the second place.
Over the last four holes, Gandas birdied the 15th, 16th and 18th holes to close the issue beyond doubt.
In Category B, Kartik Sharma (75) finished on top with a total of 294 and was six shots clear of the second-placed Arjun Puri (74) at 300.