Nepal No 1 pro Bhuwan Nagarkoti claimed the Surya Nepal NPGA Match Play defeating Sanjay Lama in the final at the Royal Nepal Golf Club on Thursday.

Nagarkoti saw off fourth-ranked Sanjay Lama 3&2 in the final played over 36 holes to lift his eighth career title and first of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2021-22 season.

Winner Nagarkoti walked away with a purse of Rs50,000 along with a trophy. Runner-up Sanjay earned Rs30,000. Fifth-ranked Dhana Bahadur Thapa won the third place honours defeating Bikash Adhikari on the final hole (2-up) to finish third. Thapa received Rs22,000 and Adhikari bagged Rs18,000.

The four losing quarter-finalists—Dinesh Prajapati, Rame Magar, Jayaram Shrestha and Deepak Magar—got Rs10,000 each. Eight pros—Sachin Prasad Bhattarai, Surya Prasad Sharma, Bal Bhadra Rai, Bhuwan Kumar Rokka, Krishna Man Rajbahak, Rabi Khadka and Shiva Kumar Majhi—who succumbed to defeat in the first round shared Rs5,000 each.

Top 16 professional golfers in the order of merit of Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2018-19 season were eligible to compete in the tournament. Second-ranked Shivaram Shrestha and 14th-ranked Deepak Acharya did not take part in the tournament paving way for 17th-ranked Shiva Kumar Majhi and 18th-ranked Sachin Bhattarai to compete.

Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd Vice-president (Marketing) Dipra Lahiri and RNGC President Prachanda Bahadur Shrestha distributed prizes to the winners. The event was organised by Nepal PGA under sponsorship of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd.