Golfer Perera leads Navratna team to victory at Louis Philippe Cup

28-year-old Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka

Bengaluru, June 13 (IANS) Sri Lankan Mithun Perera shot five-under 67 to ensure that his team Navratna Ahmedabad retained the Louis Philippe title at the Karnataka Golf Association course here on Saturday.

It was Navratna Ahmedabad's third Louis Philippe Cup title in four years of the tournament. Giving Perera full support was teammate and compatriot Anura Rohana, who made a crucial 10-foot birdie on 18th when the team needed it most and returned with one-under 71.

The third player of Navratna Ahmedabad team Shankar Das, winner of 2014 PGTI Rankings, who gave hope to his team by shooting three-under on the first day, ended the final round with three-over 75.

Navratna Ahmedabad's three-day total was 13-under 419 and tied with TAKE Chennai, but Ahmedabad's final day score of six-under 138 gave them victory and a winning cheque of Rs.36 lakhs. As per the format, the scores of the best two players were taken into consideration as the team total.

TAKE Chennai, who went into the final round with a five-shot cushion, had a disappointing day as all three players were unable to shoot low numbers.

Local lad Khalin Joshi, who kept TAKE Chennai's hopes alive until this morning, carded a two-under 70 while both his teammates S. Chikkarangappa and S.S.P. Chawrasia shot one-over 73.

Khalin collected a cheque of Rs.7 lakhs as he became the individual strokeplay winner with a 54-Hole total of 12-under par while Om Prakash Chouhan of Dev-Ellora Pune was individual runner-up at five-under par in the Rs. 1.2 crore tournament.

Dev Ellora Pune, who were fifth at the end of Day 2, climbed to third after Sanjay Kumar shot a fabulous round of four-under 68 and Om Prakash Chouhan submitted a scorecard of three-under 69.

Bangladesh's Siddikur couldn't do much on the final day for Pune team as he shot six-over 78. Dev Ellora's three-day team total was 11-under 421 while Zion Hills Bengaluru finished fourth at 10-under 422.

Gaganjeet Bhullar's Jaypee Greens Greater Noida and Jyoti Randhawa's Laqshya Mumbai shared the fifth place at seven-under 425 while the youngest team in the fray, DLF The Crest Gurgaon ended the tourney at the bottom with one-under 431.

Perera, who also led Navratna Ahmedabad to victory in 2012 and 2013 said: "I had a bad start with a bogey on the third and after sometime, I didn't even think that we can come close to winning.

"When Shankar gave me a sign on 11th hole that he is not doing too well, I started firing birdies in the back nine. I made six birdies.

"I always knew that I have two consistent players in my team and we are like a family in this team event and always give signs to each other about who is doing what.

"Also, just because I have won this event twice, I was very confident of doing it again."

Louis Philippe Cup 2015 - Team standings (Final Round): Navratna Ahmedabad 13-under 419 (Mithun Perera 67, Anura Rohana 71, Shankar Das 75); TAKE Chennai 13-under 419 (Khalin Joshi 70, Chikkarangappa 73, SSP Chawrasia 73); Dev-Ellora Pune 11-under- 421 (Siddikur 78, Om Prakash Chouhan 69, Sanjay Kumar 68); Zion Hills Bengaluru 10-under 422 (Rahil Gangjee 69, C Muniyappa 71, Abhijit Chadha 74); Jaypee Greens Greater Noida 7-under 425 (Gaganjeet Bhullar 74, Rashid Khan 70, Shamim Khan 70); Laqshya Mumbai 7-under 425 (Jyoti Randhawa 72, Mukesh Kumar 71, Manav Jaini 72); DLF The Crest Gurgaon One-under 431 (Shubhankar Sharma 71, Manu Gandas 77, Abhinav Lohan 72).