Shivaram Shrestha lived up to Nepal No 1 status by clinching the Surya Nepal NPGA Match Play title at the Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) on Thursday.
Playing at his home turf, the top-tanked pro beat Bhuwan Nagarkoti 2&1 in the final of the fourth event of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2018-19. Shrestha was 2-up at the halfway stage before extending the lead to three after 18 holes. The RNGC pro Shrestha was just 1-up after 27 holes and Nagarkoti pulled level with a birdie on the 28th hole. But Shrestha won the next two holes with a birdie and par to go two-up again.
Nagarkoti showed a great determination to fight his way back by birdies on 31st and 32nd holes to square the match yet again. Shrestha went up on the 33rd hole after sinking a birdie from the bunker while Nagarkoti missed eight-foot birdie putt to be one-down. The Nepal No 1 pro sank yet another birdie from 12-feet on 34th where his rival missed again. They halved the 35th hole with par putts meaning Shrestha won 2&1.
The title was third of the season for Shrestha and 44th overall. He received Rs 70,000 while Nagarkoti got Rs 40,000. Dinesh Prajapati finished third after defeating Rame Magar 2&1 to earn Rs 28,000. Magar earned Rs 20,000. Four losing quarter-finalists—Deepak Magar, Bhuwan Kumar Rokka, Jayaram Shrestha and Bal Bhadra Rai—received Rs 11,000 each. Eight other first round losers Dhana Bahadur Thapa, Rabi Khadka, Deepak Acharya, Sanjay Lama, Pashupati Sharma, Pradeep Kumar Lama, Bikash Adhikari and Surya Prasad Sharma got Rs 6,000 each.
Top 16 professional golfers took part in the tournament organised by Nepal Professional Golfers Association.
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