Baisoya gets into semi-finals at Goodricke East India

Baisoya gets into semi-finals at Goodricke East India

23^rd December, Kolkata: The youngest one in the lot, Honey Baisoya, 15, was the only one to finish his game after 15^th holes when he beat Ambala’s Manav Das by 5 and 3 in the quarter finals of Goodricke East India Amateur Golf Championship at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Kolkata. Others who made it to the semi-finals were Bangalore duo S. Chikkarangappa and Khalin Joshi along with Chandigarh’s Angad Cheema.

Currenty No. 3 on the junior circuit, Baisoya went one-down only once on the 6^th hole and he never looked back from there. After winning the 7^th and halving 8^th, Baisoya made pars on the 9^th and 10^th while Das bogeyed both the holes for going two-down. Both the players halved the 11^th and an aggressive Baisoya made a par on the 12^th to go 3 up where Das made a bogey. The chances of Baisoya’s victory got much clearer on the 13^th when he hit 2 yards on the green and double putted from there to go 4 up while Das missed the chip putt after going in the right rough and made a bogey. After halving the 14^th, Baisoya made a birdie on the par-5, 15^th to win the match for 5 and 4 while Das had to close it with a par.

S. Chikkarangappa confirmed his reputation as one of the most mentally strong player on the amateur circuit once again as he capped a succession of win, over veteran Gagan Verma for 2 and 1. Chikka started off well with a birdie on the opening, 4^th and 6^th hole to go 3 up but Verma’s strong putting on the 9^th, 10^th and 12^th took the game from where they started. A confident Chikka’s tee shot went 8-feet close to the pin on the 13^th while he lost the 14^th again to get equal. Chikka then, won the 15^th and 17^th after making few good up and downs to win the match.

Only local lad left in the fray, S. K. Pappu (Sr.) had to face the disappointment after loosing the match from Khalin Joshi.  Pappu, who took the advantage of his home course by going 2-up after 13 holes, made wrong chip and made three putts on 14^th to remain 1-up while Joshi birdied the hole. Joshi birdied the 15^th while Pappu missed the par putt and both became equal. Both of them fired good birdies on 16^th to halve the hole but under-pressured Joshi hit center fairway on the 17^th and made two putts from around 12 feet to go 1-up while pappu made a bogey. On the 18^th, Joshi again hit the center fairway for going 2-up to win the match while Pappu had given up after going into the left tree.

The winner of last week’s RCGC Cup, Angad Cheema won a neck-to-neck match from opponent Simarjeet Singh, who is also his playing partner at the Chandigarh Golf Club. Cheema, who was never down, won the 1^st while Singh won the 2^nd. Both leveled after 3^rd while Cheema made a birdie on 4^th to go 1-up. After halving 5^th and 6^th, Cheema again made a birdie on 7^th to go 2-up while he lost the 8^th after hitting the tree for a penalty drop and stayed 1-up. Both of them halved the 9^th while Cheema won the 10^th to go 2-up. It was a back luck of Cheema on 11^th where he double bogeyed to go 1-up and Singh made a par. After they both halved the 12^th and 13^th, Cheema saved his par on 14^th for going 2-up while Singh dropped shots for double bogey. Singh came back with an eagle on 15^th but it didn’t help him much as Cheema won the 16^th and 17^th for 2 and 1.