Aditi emerges champion

Bengaluru golfer Aditi Ashok clinched the final junior title of the year, with a three day total of 236 in the combined age categories of the Toyota IGU All India finals, at the par-72 Royal Calcutta Golf Club on Thursday. The youngster (77-82-77), who hogged the limelight with a top-10 finish in the Hero Women Indian Open last week, pipped Delhi’s Ridhima Dilawari 239 (84-71-74) by three strokes after the end of 54 holes. Another Delhi girl Gurbani Singh also carded an identical 239 (83-78-78), but finished third as Dilawari had better scores on the finals day. In the combined category boys, local favourite Viraj Madappa was looking strong for a second consecutive title as he managed to stay in pole position despite a three over par 75 score for a three day total of 216 (72-69-75). Following him was fellow city golfer Mohan Sardar, who was four strokes behind the leader. Sardar hit a level par round on Thursday, for a total score of 220 (74-74-72). Manu Gandas (DLF, Gurgaon) was third with a total of 222 (74-75-73) at the end of 54 holes. Gandas, winner of last week’s Toyota IGU Eastern India tournament, managed just one birdie and hit two consecutive bogeys on the seventh and eighth holes, before a double bogey on the 11th. In the boy’s U-14 category, DLF’s Piyush Sangwan stayed on course for a second successive title with a six-stroke lead over local boy Tutul Ali.