DP World Tour

Chawrasia wins Indian Open after four runner-up finishes

SSP Chawrasia (Stuart Franklin/ Getty Images)

NEW DELHI – India’s SSP Chawrasia pulled off a two-shot win over defending champion Anirban Lahiri and Korea’s Jeunghun Wang with a birdie on the final hole Sunday at the US$1.66 million Hero Indian Open.

Chawrasia shot 71 for a 15-under-par 273, two better than Lahiri (69) and Wang (68). It was his third European Tour win and the fourth on Asian Tour. Lahiri, the reigning Asian Tour No. 1, missed his birdie attempt on the final hole while Chawrasia struck a third shot from the rough that landed within three feet of the cup at the Delhi Golf Club.

“It is a very important day for me. I have finished second four times in the Indian Open and every time that happened to me I wondered if I would ever be able to one day be the champion,” said Chawrasia, who won US$276,660.

“Anirban is a great player and a fine sportsman and I enjoy my duels with him,” Chawrasia said. “ Now quite possibly both of us will go to the Olympics as part of the Indian team.”

“There was a lot of pressure on me on the last hole,” he said. “This win means so much to me. I don’t know how I will celebrate it. I will let my wife (Simantini) do that for me. Last year when I lost, she was crying so now we can both enjoy this victory together,” he said with a smile.

“It was pretty intense. I got off to a great start but lost a bit of momentum after that,” Lahiri said. “I gave myself a lot of chances but missed quite few from 15-20 feet but at the end of day, SSP hung tough and played very well.”

“There is nothing sweeter than being the Indian Open champion. It was a disappointing finish after a promising start for me. But I am so happy for SSP. This win is huge for him,” Lahiri added.

Wang, a member of Team Asia at the EurAsia Cup earlier this year, came close to winning his first Asian Tour title, settling for a bogey-free 68 highlighted by four birdies.