Stephen Gallacher wins Indian Open by

birdieing three of last four holes

  Stephen Gallacher with the Hero Indian Open championship trophy. Courtesy of Getty Images

Stephen Gallacher birdied three of his last four holes to produce a stunning comeback and win, by one stroke, his first European Tour title in five years at the Hero Indian Open. His 18-year-old son Jack caddied well for his father.

The 44-year-old West Lothian-born Scot, nephew of another Ryder Cup player, Bernard Gallacher, had shared the first-round lead but a second-round 74 saw him slip back and his chances looked doomed when he made a quadruple bogey 8  on the seventh hole in Sunday's final round.

The lead kept moving backwards on a windy day at DLF Golf and Country Club but as he stood on the 15th tee, Gallacher still looked an outside bet facing one of the toughest closing stretches on the Race to Dubai.

The 2014 Ryder Cup star knows a thing or two about performing under pressure, however, and he took advantage of the par five before hitting stunning approaches into the 17th and last to claim his first win since the second of back to back Omega Dubai Desert Classic titles in 2014.

A closing 71 moved the 44-year-old to nine under and gave him a one shot win over Japan's Masahiro Kawamura, with Spaniard Jorge Campillo a further shot back.

American Julian Suri had led by three after 12 holes but produced a quadruple bogey of his own on the treacherous 14th to slip back, and he finished alongside South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout at six under.

On Mother's Day back in his native Scotland, it was a father and son show in New Delhi, with son Jack caddying for Gallacher this season.

"It was great to have him on the bag and Mother's Day as well makes it even more special," said Gallacher.

"When you're 44 you're in the sort of twilight so it's a big win for me. It was good to finish it out the way I did it, three under for the last four is a great way to finish."

He added: "I was pretty calm after that hole (the seventh), there's nothing really much you can do. To see that I was only five back gave me a wee bit of encouragement.

"I thought, 'just hang in there'. When I birdied 15 I saw that Julian Suri had come back and then when I got to the 16th green I was tied for the lead. I just tried to finish as strong as I could and I did that. Thankfully it was enough."

Gallacher birdied the first but gave the shot back on the third and when he had to go back to the tee twice at the seventh, his chances looked to have gone.

Overnight leader Suri made a slow start with bogeys on the third, sixth and seventh but he got on the green at the eighth in two and played a lovely chip off the bank at the driveable ninth to lead by two at the turn.

Kawamura birdied the fourth but bogeys on the first, fifth and sixth meant he turned in 38 before a beautiful up and down from the sand on the 11th brought a birdie.

A bogey on the next from the 25-year-old handed Suri a three-shot lead and it should have been four when the leader drove the par four 13th but a three-putt stalled the American's momentum.

He twice played over the green and then three-putted from the fringe on the 14th and all of a sudden, the contest was wide open.

Gallacher made birdies on the ninth, tenth and 12th but three putted the 14th before Campillo was the man to set the target at seven under.

He turned in 35 with two birdies and a bogey and then added further gains on the 12th, 13th, 15th and 17th for a 67.

A 12 foot putt on the 15th edged Gallacher alongside Campillo and when he hit a stunning approach to six feet on the 17th, he was the man to catch.

Kawamura's approach to the penultimate hole was equally impressive to set up a birdie but Gallacher hit a sensational four iron into the green

at the par five last for a closing birdie, and became the second player this season to win with an eight on the card over the week after Kurt Kitayama at the Oman Open.

Bezuidenhout made six birdies and two bogeys in a 68 that handed him a third top ten in four events and he finished three shots off the lead, one ahead of fellow South Africans George Coetzee and Erik van Rooyen, Spaniard Nacho Elvira and England's Callum Shinkwin.
Aberdonian Richie Ramsay tied for 54th place in the final standings.

Finn Kalle Samooja made the third hole-in-one of the week with a pitching wedge from 139 yards on the 12th for the eighth ace of the season.

Final scores

279 S Gallacher (Sco) 67 74 67 71, 
280 M Kawamura (Jpn) 69 70 68 73, 
281 J Campillo (Spn) 70 73 71 67, 
282 C Bezuidenhout (SAf) 68 76 70 68, J Suri (USA) 67 67 71 77, 
283 G Coetzee (SAf) 70 66 74 73, E Van Rooyen (SAf) 69 73 69 72, C Shinkwin (Eng) 72 65 68 78, N Elvira (Spn) 72 69 72 70,
284 K Horne (SAf) 73 73 70 68, M Korhonen (Finland) 71 69 70 74, V Dubuisson (Fra) 71 72 70 71, A Otaegui (Spn) 70 72 73 69, S Kim (USA) 76 68 67 73, S Chikkarangappa (India) 74 70 66 74, R Khan (India) 72 70 72 70, J Todd (USA) 73 69 72 70, 
285 K Samooja (Finland) 75 71 69 70, M Schwab (Austria) 72 68 70 75, J Morrison (Eng) 70 71 69 75, R Rock (Eng) 70 70 75 70, N Bertasio (Ita) 70 75 73 67, 
286 B Wiesberger (Austria) 71 70 75 70, P Marksaeng (Thai) 69 69 78 70, 
287 P Pittayarat (Thai) 71 70 74 72, A Chesters (Eng) 69 73 71 74, 
288 S Sharma (Ind) 69 73 71 75, J Higginbottom (Aus) 73 70 77 68, A Pavan (Ita) 75 68 72 73, L Gagli (Ita) 76 65 72 75, H Porteous (RSA) 73 73 70 72, 
289 B Campbell (Nzl) 72 71 73 73, A Rai (Eng) 74 69 73 73, R Jacquelin (Fra) 70 74 70 75, 
290 S Hend (Aus) 69 68 74 79, S Vincent (Zim) 72 72 72 74, M Fraser (Aus) 71 71 74 74, P Saksansin (Tha) 69 75 71 75, 
291 P Larrazábal (Esp) 68 76 73 74, G Bhullar (Ind) 72 74 74 71, B Henson (USA) 70 72 79 70, J Singh Brar (Eng) 72 70 75 74, J Hansen (Den) 73 72 70 76, W Liang (Chn) 72 73 74 72, 
292 J Walters (RSA) 74 71 78 69, N Thangaraja (Sri) 71 70 77 74, R Karlsson (Swe) 68 68 73 83, R Wannasrichan (Tha) 73 73 74 72, J Catlin (USA) 71 75 72 74, P Meesawat (Tha) 68 74 71 79, S Brazel (Aus) 73 69 73 77, S Chawrasia (Ind) 74 72 71 75, H Tanihara (Jpn) 71 73 71 77, 
293 A Sandhu (Ind) 74 71 73 75, R Ramsay (Sco) 69 71 75 78, S Brown (Eng) 73 70 74 76, D Nisbet (Aus) 70 73 73 77, 
294 J Wang (Kor) 73 69 76 76, D Horsey (Eng) 72 73 70 79, G Green (Mas) 72 71 71 80, J Kruger (RSA) 73 71 75 75, 
295 J Dantorp (Swe) 70 72 70 83, 
296 T Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 70 76 75, 
297 A Da Silva (Bra) 71 73 73 80, D Kataoka (Jpn) 76 69 74 78, D Burmester (RSA) 71 73 73 80, 
298 T Kaewsiribandit (Tha) 71 75 71 81, 
300 S Kjeldsen (Den) 71 75 77 77, 
301 R Gangjee (Ind) 70 74 77 80, G Singh (Ind) 73 73 73 82, 

Suri two shots ahead on Sunday at Hero Indian Open

Julian Suri opened up a two-shot lead heading into the final nine holes of the 2019 Hero Indian Open as DLF Golf and Country Club showed its teeth on Sunday.
The New Delhi lay-out is regarded as one of the toughest tests on the Race to Dubai and increased winds meant that scoring was very difficult as the event edged towards its conclusion.
American Suri started the day in a share of the lead at 11 under and while a front nine of 37 meant he had surrendered a shot, that was still good enough to leave him two shots ahead of England's James Morrison.
Co-overnight leader Callum Shinkwin was then at seven under alongside Japan's Masahiro Kawamura and American Sihwan Kim.
Kawamura dropped a shot on the first to fall to eight under and and the leading duo had soon extended their advantage to three shots with a pair of pars each.
Suri then bogeyed the third after going left off the tee and Shinkwin had the lead on his own.
Shinkwin and Kawamura both three putted the fifth and all of a sudden, the field was tightening up.
Suri three-putted the next and with Shinkwin finding a bunker off the tee for a bogey of his own, the lead had come back to nine under.
Kawamura also bogeyed the sixth and he was at seven under alongside two Americans moving in the other direction.
Jarin Todd made birdies on the first and fourth and a hat-trick from the seventh, while Kim had gains on the first and seventh.
Kim then took advantage of the par five eighth and the man who finished third here last season was one shot off the lead.
Morrison sandwiched birdies on the third and fourth with bogeys on the first and fifth and when he chipped in for eagle at the eighth, he was in a share of second.
Suri came up short of the seventh green and could not get up and down, making a third bogey of the day to leave Shinkwin in the solo lead again.
Ahead on the tenth, Kim got in trouble off the tee and dropped his first shot of the day.
Shinkwin found water off the tee at the eighth to drop into a three way tie but he was not there for long as Suri found the green in two at the par five and made his first birdie.
The 27-year-old had birdied the ninth every day so far and he did it again as he drove up to the bank at the side of the green, with Shinkwin dropping another shot after finding the water again.
Todd made a bogey on the difficult 14th to drop to six under alongside Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Jorge Campillo, Nacho Elvira, Stephen Gallacher, Mikko Korhonen and Erik van Rooyen.
Kalle Samooja made the third hole-in-one of the week on the 12th with a pitching wedge from 139 yards for the eighth ace of the season.

Read more at http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2019/tournamentid=2019031/news/newsid=368073.html#iApsZs6rCoBrlSCO.99

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                              March 30, 2019

 SURI AND SHINKWIN SHARE LEAD WHILE KAWAMURA CHASES AT THE HERO INDIAN OPEN

Masahiro Kawamura of Japan

New Delhi, India, March 30: Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura showed his mental toughness by storming home with five birdies in his closing nine holes after carding an ugly triple-bogey on the eighth hole to stay close to third-round leaders American Julian Suri and England’s Callum Shinkwin at the Hero Indian Open on Saturday.

The Japanese will head into the final round two shots back of Suri and Shinkwin after he signed for a four-under-par 68 at the US$1.75 million event which is held at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

Suri and Shinkwin posted rounds of 71 and 68 respectively to take their place atop the leaderboard with their three-day total of 11-under-par 205.

Apart from that momentary blip on eight, Kawamura was consistent all day and thanks to his sharp-shooting driver where he only missed one fairway. The Japanese will be aiming to end a six-year title drought on the Asian Tour this week.

India’s S. Chikkarangappa kept the local hopes alive on moving day with seven birdies in his opening 13 holes. He seemed on course to break the course record set by compatriot Shubhankar Sharma last year until he dropped his first shot of the day on hole 17 after missing the green on his approach. Chikkarangappa would still finish with a commendable round of 66 to take tied-sixth place.

American Sihwan Kim and Australia’s Scott Hend lie a further shot back following their respective rounds of 67 and 74.

Did you know?

·       Masahiro Kawamura is currently placed sixth on the Habitat for Humanity Standings.

·       Residing in Yokkaichi City, Japan, Kawamura is aiming to end a six-year title drought on Tour since his last victory at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open in 2013.

·       The 25-year-old Kawamura finished tied-second at the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open last May to earn his spot at the 147th Open.

·       The Japanese hit 13/14 fairways, 15/18 greens and totalled 28 putts.

·       Chikkarangappa claimed a two-shot victory at the Golconda Masters 2019 Powered By Telangana Tourism & Incredible India in February. Prior to that he also won the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational in November of last year on his local circuit.

·       The Bengaluru-born golfer played in his first National Open when he was a 15-year-old amateur golfer. His best finish at his country’s National Open was a tied-26th result in 2012.

·       He is a two-time winner on the Asian Development Tour (ADT). His last top-10 finish on Tour came at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open where he enjoyed a joint runner-up result and took home his career’s biggest prize purse of US$104,364.

·       Sihwan Kim was the highest-placed Asian Tour player at the Hero Indian Open last year with his third-place finish.

·       Kim’s score of 67 marks his personal-best round at the DLF Golf and Country Club. He shot a 68 in the final round last year.

·       The Korean-American hit 13 of 14 fairways, only missed four greens and totalled 27 putts.

·       Julian Suri is playing in just his second event this season after undergoing surgery on an abdominal hernia.

·       The American is of Indian descent and will be gunning for his first trophy on Indian soil after missing the cut in this event last year.

·       Callum Shinkwin turned professional in 2013 and will be looking to lift his maiden victory this week. 

Players’ Quotes:

Julian Suri (Usa) Third round 71 (-1), Total 205 (-11)

I think a couple of the mistakes I made today where after long waits on the tee box and that was quite a long wait on 18. No excuses, totally my fault and I need to compose myself better and I think that is a bit of a learning curve for me after being out of tournament golf for a while now.

You have to be on your game at all times. Any slip up or anything can be pretty penal. I am feeling good with my overall game despite 18 there, the game feels good. It would be great to win. It would be awesome with my family history, but you know, it’s going to be a grind out there, there are a lot of people in it, and I need to go and do what I am capable of.

Callum Shinkwin (Eng) Third round 68 (-4), Total 205 (-11)

My game plan was to just stay away from the bushes. It’s so tight out there so when I do have a chance to hit driver I’ll hit it. There were a few tricky pins out there today and I just stuck to my game plan and took the driver out when I needed to, or a two-iron if I needed to as well. It was a great ball-striking round which I am very happy about that too, just need more putts to drop. I just want to play as well as I can, if I do win that’s great, if I don’t then I know my time will come soon.

Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) Third round 68 (-4), Total 207 (-9)

I am very happy to have come back with another good round especially with how hard conditions were today. I had a good comeback and shot five-under-par in the back nine. Especially after the eight on hole eight.

I came into this week feeling confident because I have been hitting it well. So I was pretty aggressive today and using a lot of drivers off the tee. There were some big mistakes today but there were still a lot of good recovery shots.

On hole eight I hit a good tee shot, then I hit my first shot into the water. And hit another one into the water again. It was just two bad shots in a row and I had to force myself to forget about it pretty quick. I made a good up and down to save myself.

On hole 11 and hole 18 I made two good birdies because I used my driver off the tee and had two-putt birdies. Overall I am happy with my position and tomorrow I will be attacking the pins again.

 S. Chikkarangappa (Ind) Third round 66 (-6), Total 210 (-6)

Started with two birdies which gave me a good momentum. Overall, I was hitting the ball great and hit almost every fairway and made a lot of green-in-regulations today. I am very happy with the round. Seven birdies and one bogey, I’ll take that score on this course.

I’ve been having a good stretch since I won the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational, I think that was where it all started for me and it’s been going great. I am feeling good about my game and all parts of my game is going good.

I am in a good position right now and I just need to go out there and enjoy myself like how I have been doing for the past couple of months, just no expectations and play happy golf.

Sihwan Kim (Usa) Third round 67 (-5), Total 211 (-5)

It was good, I had a slow start but I just kept it on the greens and made some putts. First three holes were quite bad for me since I missed all three greens. But then I got the momentum going and just started hitting it a lot better.

On hole four I made a 15-footer for birdie to kick things off, and from there I had no bogeys so that was the hole that gave me the boost I needed. The greens are a lot softer this year so I could attack the pins more and it’s a lot less windy today and way hotter so the ball is going far.

Really happy with where I am, I could have made a lot more putts out there but five-under-par on this course is good.

Ends.

Scores after round 3 of the Hero Indian Open 2019 being played at the par 72, 7438 Yards DLF GCC course (am - denotes amateur):

par 216 (3x72)

205 - Callum Shinkwin (ENG) 72-65-68, Julian Suri (USA) 67-67-71.

207 - Masahiro Kawamura (JPN) 69-70-68.

208 - Stephen Gallacher (SCO) 67-74-67.

209 - Robert Karlsson (SWE) 68-68-73.

210 - S. Chikkarangappa (India) 74-70-66, James Morrison (ENG) 70-71-69, Matthias Schwab (Austria) 72-68-70, Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 71-69-70, George Coetzee (SAf) 70-66-74.

211 - Sihwan Kim (USA) 76-68-67, Erik Van Rooyen (RSA) 69-73-69, Scott Hend (AUS) 69-68-74.

ALSO  

215 Richie Ramsay (Sco) 69 71 75 (T27)

For full results click here

LINK TO INDIAN OPEN SCOREBOARD


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Stephen Gallacher shares first-round lead in Indian Open with a 67  Stephen Gallacher and Julian Suri fired opening rounds of 67 to take a share of the first round lead at the Hero Indian Open. Gallacher has often flourished on tough courses throughout his career, and showed he had the measure of DLF Golf and Country Club last season as he recorded a top ten finish in New Delhi. Fast forward 12 months and a sensational putt from off the green at the last handed the Scot a closing eagle and a one shot advantage at five under. It looked for a long time like he would not be caught in the afternoon but American Suri - who missed the cut in his only appearance here last season - produced some magic of his own on the 18th, playing a sublime bunker shot to set up a closing birdie and join Gallacher at the summit. South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Swede Robert Karlsson, Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal and Thai Prom Meesawat were the nearest challengers, with last week's winner Scott Hend and local hero Shubhankar Sharma in a nine-man group two shots off the lead. Play will restart tomorrow at 7:40am with one game to finish. Player Quotes Stephen Gallacher: “It was a perfect morning. Cool to start with and then it heated up later on in the round, and not too much wind, so it was perfect today. “I think you have to get it in play off the tee, there is just so much trouble. I think if you get the tee shot in place you can hit a couple of nice iron shots and take advantage of the par fours that are quite short, drive a couple, and knock it onto the par fives. “It is quite a strategic course. I don’t think you need to be the longest player on the Tour to play it, I think you’ve just got to plot your way around it. “I have started the season poorly to be honest, I’ve had a sort of big miss in the bag that has been costing me triples and doubles, so hopefully, I knew I was close last week, I played lovely but just didn’t get anything out of it, but coming back to a place where I’ve played well hopefully I can draw on some inspiration from last year.” Julian Suri: “It was a good day. My caddie Dermot, he keeps encouraging me and calls me the Greatest Showman sometimes after the movie, so I had to give him a little show there. “I got the all clear about four or five weeks ago from the doc and last week in Malaysia was my first event. With the heat there and all the conditions, the body felt great and the swing felt good too. It’s obviously still a work in progress but to shoot a score like this, on a course like this, is a good sign going forward. “It’s a great test. It’s very dramatic and provokes the imagination a little bit so I enjoy it.” Pablo Larrazabal: “The conditions were perfect and this is a great golf course. If you hit alright from the tee, or out it in the short grass then it’s not that long, and the greens as good as they are you can hole putts. Very happy starting last year with five under, this year four under, hopefully I can go four better than last year. “I like great golf course and I love to putt on good greens, and these are probably the best of the season with Abu Dhabi, so I just try to keep working. I didn’t play my best today from the tee, but I allowed myself to keep the ball alive and not put myself into too much trouble and trying to make birdies when I can. Robert Karlsson: “It was one of those things, I just got this feeling over the wedge. I saw Dean Burmester hit it just right of the flag, and thought this is the perfect distance for me, and when I was over the ball I thought ‘this could go in’ and when it when in I was like ‘yep’. So that happens sometimes. It’s not easy but it was just one of those shots.   “Eight I played really well, hit a driver and six iron to the back, and chipped it in from probably 25 feet, so that was great. I don’t think I have ever done two eagles in a row, I have done two in a round but not two back-to-back so that’s pretty cool. “This is one of the most brutal golf courses I have ever played, it’s fantastic because you get found out when you are doing good and when you are not doing so good. Any slight miss and it’s trouble. It is a fabulous week to be here and definitely one of the best courses we play condition wise that is going to test where you are.” Round one scores (with one game to finish):  67 J Suri (USA) , S Gallacher (Sco)  68 R Karlsson (Swe) , P Larrazábal (Spn) , C Bezuidenhout (SAf) , P Meesawat (Thai) 69 R Ramsay (Sco) , E Van Rooyen (SAf) , P Marksaeng (Thai) , M Kawamura (Jpn) , S Hend (Australia , S Sharma (India) , E Molinari (Ita) , A Chesters (Eng) , P Saksansin (Thai)  70 W Ormsby (Australia) , J Morrison (Eng) , A Otaegui (Spn) , R Gangjee (India) , B Henson (USA) , J Campillo (Spn) , J Dantorp (Swe) , R Rock (Eng) , D Nisbet (Australia) , G Coetzee (SAf) , R Jacquelin (Fra) , N Bertasio (Ita) , 71 B Wiesberger (Austria) , M Korhonen (Fin) , V Dubuisson (Fra) , M Kieffer (Ger) , J Veerman (USA) , T Kaewsiribandit (Thai) , M Waite (Eng) , S Chan (Taipei) , O Chouhan (India) , H Tanihara (Jpn) , D Burmester (SAf) , J Catlin (USA) , S Kjeldsen (Den) , A Da Silva (Brazil) , M Fraser (Australia) , S Yongcharoenchai (Thai) , P Pittayarat (Thai) , N Thangaraja (Sri Lanka 72 G Bhullar (Ind) , G Green (Mas) , D Horsey (Eng) , W Liang (Chn) , D Boonma (Tha) , B Campbell (Nzl) , C Shinkwin (Eng) , S Vincent (Zim) , N Elvira (Spn) , J Singh Brar (Eng) , R Khan (Ind) , M Schwab (Austria)  73 K Horne (SAf) , J Hansen (Den) , J Kruger (SAf) , G Singh (Ind) , S Brazel (Aus) , P Figueiredo (Portugal) , J Wang (SKor) , M Mollah (Ban) , H Porteous (SAf) , R Wannasrichan (Tha) , S Brown (Eng) , T Ghai (Ind) , J Todd (USA) , R Gouveia (Por) , O Fisher (Eng) , M Dharma (Ind) , M Warren (Sco)  74 A Rai (Eng) , S Ahmed (Ind) , S Khan (Ind) , J Walters (SAf) , J Janewattananond (Tha) , A Sandhu (Ind) , S Chikkarangappa (Ind) , S Chawrasia (Ind) , S Kapur (Ind) , M Shin (USA)   75 D Howell (Eng) , T Pilkadaris (Aus) , M Kokocinski (Swe) , A Rohana (Sri) , N Srithong (Tha) , J Norris (Aus) , K Samooja (Fin) , A Pavan (Ita) , H Gupta (Ind)  76 S Kim (USA) , S Rahman (Ban) , A Sharma (Ind) , P Tangkamolprasert (Tha) , M Perera (Sri) , U Mane (Ind) , Y Chang (SKor) , J Randhawa (Ind) , S Soderberg (Swe) , L Gagli (Ita) , D Kataoka (Jpn) , K Joshi (Ind)  77 R Wattel (Fra) , M Manassero (Ita) , V Madappa (Ind) , C Kumar (Ind) , C Nirat (Tha) , H Park (SKor) , A Lahiri (Ind) , A Raj (Ind) , D Bajaj (Ind) , V Ahlawat (India) , K Kumar (Ind) , A Chadha (Ind) , V Parikh (am) (India) 78 S Norris (SAf), K Kochhar (Ind) , B Stone (SAf , M Choi (SKor) , Z Lombard (SAf) , P Peterson (USA) , D Law (Sco) 79 M Mamat (Singapore) , H Baisoya (India) , M Kumar (Ind) , A Singh Ahlawat (am) (Ind)  80 S Das (Ind) , A Wu (Chn) , C Wood (Eng) , K Sharma (am) (Ind) 81 T Pulkkanen (Fin) , R Lee (Can)  83 D Singh (Ind) 84 D Gleeson (Australia) , A Quiros (Spn) , A Malik (India)  87 H Sethie (am) (India)                                                                           Ends

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