McARTHUR FINISHES SECOND IN CHALLENGE TOUR OPENER IN INDIA

Andrew McArthur studying the line of a putt during his final round in India 
Picture by courtesy of Karolina Gembara 

CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT 

FROM NEIL AHERN, European Tour Press Officer

Andrew McArthur came agonisingly close to claiming a second European Challenge Tour title at the Gujarat Kensville Challenge in India but had to settle for runner-up spot as home favourite Shiv Kapur sealed a two-shot victory.

Kapur entered the final day with a four-shot cushion over the Glaswegian but McArthur launched a late title tilt at Kensville Golf and Country Club, outside the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, closing the gap to two shots going down the last.

It was all set up for a tense finish and a sweet second shot from McArthur gave him a makeable birdie putt on the final green while Kapur’s approach bounced into the rough over the back.

But the challenger missed his 15 footer and Kapur held his nerve to get up and down for par and finish on 14 under for the tournament, two clear of McArthur – whose three under par 69 meant he finished the week on 12 under.

Despite coming so close to a second Challenge Tour title, McArthur was still happy with his start to the season and is hoping to push on from here in his search for one of the 20 European Tour cards on offer via the Challenge Tour.

“At the 18^th I was thinking if I hole that putt, he has still got a little knee-knocker to win but unfortunately it didn’t happen,” said the 33 year old.

“I just under-read the putt on the last. I knew it was going to come back from the outside right of the hole and then it just kept going left and slipped past but it was a good putt.

“I just kept doing the same things as I have done all week but I didn’t play quite as well tee to green today. I holed out really well sometimes but I threw a couple of shots away at the same time and had a bad tee shot off the 14^th which gave me a silly bogey.

“I had reigned it in a little bit after a couple of bogeys on the front nine but then that bogey at the 14^th came, which wasn’t ideal.

 “It’s a good start to the season though. Obviously I wanted to win, that’s why I was here, but it’s a positive start.

“I went to see Phil Kenyon over the winter to improve my putting and all of a sudden I feel like I have a chance with every putt and all week I barely missed anything within six feet.

“I have a bit of confidence early doors now. I almost wish there wasn’t a gap after Kenya (in two weeks) but hopefully I can do well there and we’ll see where we stand then.”

Kapur, meanwhile, is now aiming to make his way back on to The European Tour via the Challenge Tour and the 30 year old believes the win could be a catalyst for the kind of success which has been somewhat elusive thus far in his career.

“Now that I have won this it might be a sign of things to come,” he said. “I am playing well obviously and I hope to play a few more Challenge Tour events and try and make my way back on to The European Tour that way.

“I played six full seasons on The European Tour and finally lost my card last year but I went through a patch where I was second guessing myself on whether I had what it takes at that level. But deep down I knew I had it in me so this is a great start to the year and positive for the future.”

  FINAL TOTALS

   Par 288 (4x72)

274 S Kapur (Ind) 67 71 65 71

276 A McArthur  (Sco) 67 69 71 69

277 P Archer (Eng) 73 69 66 69

280 D Im (USA) 73 68 70 69

281 T Sluiter  (Ned) 70 69 70 72, M Kumar (Ind) 73 71 68 69

282 M Perera (Sri) 69 77 67 69

284 R Gangjee (Ind) 72 69 74 69, V Riu  (Fra) 68 72 73 71, G Bhullar (Ind) 71 70 73 70, R Enoch  (Wal) 71 72 70 71

285 G Murray  (Sco) 69 73 72 71, B An (Kor) 73 69 72 71, A Domingo (Esp) 66 73 72 74

286 T Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 71 73 71, R Beem (USA) 73 73 73 67, D Vancsik (Arg) 72 72 67 75

287 L Jensen (Den) 71 75 70 71, K Bhasin (Aus) 76 70 70 71, P Uihlein  (USA) 71 72 69 75, T Hatton (Eng) 73 71 73 70, J Barnes (Eng) 73 72 70 72

288 H Rai (Ind) 71 74 68 75, S Das (Ind) 73 71 72 72

289 R Ali Mollah (Ind) 76 70 69 74, J Glennemo (Swe) 68 75 74 72, S Tiley (Eng) 70 73 72 74, D Singh  (Ind) 73 73 73 70, A Pavan (Ita) 69 71 78 71

290 W Booth  (Sco) 68 71 75 76, R Murthy (Ind) 72 75 72 71, J Lima  (Por) 70 73 68 79, J Dantorp (Swe) 69 73 75 73, M Glauert (Ger) 76 70 71 73, F McGuirk  (Eng) 69 75 71 75

291 A Velasco (Esp) 76 69 73 73, C Aguilar  (Esp) 77 70 70 74

292 A Sandhu (Ind) 73 72 76 71, S Barr (Aus) 72 71 75 74, O Chouhan (Ind) 70 74 72 76, R Sharma (Ind) 72 74 73 73, A Bernadet  (Fra) 74 71 71 76

293 S O'Hara  (Sco) 71 72 71 79

294 B Parker  (Eng) 72 75 72 75, V Kumar (Ind) 75 71 72 76, A Malik (Ind) 70 73 74 77, A Singh Chauhan (Ind) 74 73 75 72

295 R Russell (Sco) 76 70 76 73, S Hutsby  (Eng) 73 71 72 79, S Chikkarangappa (Ind) 74 73 72 76, F Colombo (Ita) 71 74 76 74,

296 C Kim (USA) 73 74 75 74, B Koepka  (USA) 70 72 78 76, V Singh (Ind) 70 75 76 75

297 D Wuensche  (Ger) 72 75 78 72, F Praegant (Aut) 70 74 76 77, R Davies (Wal) 75 71 79 72, D Brooks (Eng) 74 73 73 77

299 A Sher (Ind) 73 73 75 78, G Shaw (Nir) 72 72 80 75

301 S Sharma (Ind) 75 72 74 80

302 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 73 74 79 76

303 D Kemmer (USA) 72 74 78 79