Sports
Magar fights back for title
Rame Magar edged overnight leader Shivaram Shrestha by one stroke to clinch the NPGA President’s Cup golf tournament here at the par-67 Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) on Friday.
Starting the third and final round three strokes behind fellow RNGC pro Shrestha, Magar carded three-under 64 for a total score of eight-under 193. He finished as the only pro to have returned with under-par score in all three rounds. The title was only the third in his career.
The Nepal No 1 golfer Shrestha, who made a sizzling start to the event with a course record eight-under 59 on Wednesday, paid for his poor second and third round cards. Despite shooting even-par 67 in the second round, Shrestha was still in commanding position as he was three shots ahead of Magar.
But as Magar played yet another superb round, Shrestha returned with one-over 68 to concede the title. Magar earned Rs 55,000 and Shiva Ram got Rs 37,000.
Magar put himself in strong contention for the trophy in the first nine holes which he finished at four-under 29. He started the back nine with one stroke lead over Shrestha, who shot one-over 34 on the front nine.
In a see-saw game, Magar dropped a shot on the 12th before suffering a triple bogey in the very next hole, the par-5 13th. He made up for the dropped shots by sinking birdies on the 15th and 16th holes to get within one stroke of Shrestha. Both saved the pars on the 17th, meaning Shrestha was still one stroke ahead of Magar at the 18th tee. But the 2013 Surya Nepal Masters champion Shrestha ended up with a wayward shot on the par-4 18th that resulted into a double bogey. Magar saved the par and won by a stroke.
Purna Sharma carded one-over 68 that secured him a third-place finish at one-0ver 201. The 2007 Surya Nepal Masters winner Deepak Thapa Magar (70) and Bhuwan Nagarkoti (68) were tied for fourth at four-over 2005. Sanjay Lama (66), Mani Rai (68) and Surya Prasad Sharma (74) were tied for sixth at 207. Dhana Bahadur Thapa and Nepal No 2 Rabi Khadka shared the ninth position at 208. Chuda Bahadur Bhandari and Dinesh Prajapati finished 11th at 209. Arun Tamang won the amateur category title with the score of 10-over 211 after carding two-over 69 in the final round on Friday.