Chikka meets Pritam Haridas in All India Amateur golf final

Bangalore, Feb 5 (PTI) It will be an all-Bangaloreansummit clash at the 110th All India Amateur golf championshipstomorrow as S Chikkarangappa and Pritam Haridas entered thefinal of the flagship event of the Indian Golf Union.

Chikka, the defending champion who turns 18 in September,rallied from 2-down after the 10th to ensure the trophy stayedin India, as he beat the last foreign challenger N Thangarajaof Sri Lanka 1-up on the 18th today.

If Chikka wins tomorrow, he would become the first juniorto win back-to-back All India Amateur titles. He had won theAll India junior amateur in December last, but at theEagleton.

Pritam Haridas, 20, who took the lead for the first timein the semifinal only on the seventh, ended the match againstregular playing partner Udayan Mane on the 16th winning 3 and2.

The Chikka-Pritam clash is expected to get a lot of localattention as they are both trained by two of the best knowncoaches here. Chikka is coached by Vijay Divecha at ToucheGolf Academy while Pritam trains with former Indian pro RahulGanapathy at the KGA.

"I am not getting ahead. I just want to concentrate onplaying well. Today I was two-down after 10. But I stayedfocused and knew if could kept the ball on the fairways andputted well I would come back. I had some fine putts towardsthe end, especially on 16th and 17th, both for pars. I won the17th, halved the 18th to win," said Chikka.

Chikka began erratically, as he chipped over the green onthird to go one-down, and then three-putted the fourth to losethat hole also and go two-down. He reduced the margin oneighth, but on ninth he went into water to go two-down oncemore.

But he rallied well on the back nine, winning 12th and14th to make the match even. He won the 17th to go one-up andheld the lead on the final hole.

Pritam three-putted the fourth to lose the hole. But withMane double bogeying the sixth, going into the water and thenovershooting the green on par-4 seventh, he was one-down.

Pritam tightened the grip on the match and never let goexcept on the 10th, where he three-putted to lose the hole,but still led by one.

He won the 11th with a birdie but Mane fought back with abirdie on 14th. Still one-up, Pritam won the 15th with a goodbirdie and then putted well for par on 16th. As Mane bogeyedthe hole, the match was over.