DUBAI: Shiv Kapur played an extremely steady and solid final round of two-under 70 without any bogeys to claim the season-ending Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final at the Al Badia Golf Club.
Kapur celebrated his Diwali in Dubai in a winning way with a total of 16-under 272 and a whopping four-shot margin over the second place duo Jose-Felipe Lima of Portugal (69) and Andrew McLeary of Scotland, both of whom carded 69 each to total 12-under 276.
It was not only Kapur’s second Challenge Tour title of the year – he won the season-opener in February at Kensville Challenge, Ahmedabad – but it also helped him find his way back to the European Tour for 2014.
Kapur is the first Indian player to win more than once on Challenge Tour. McLeary squeezed in as the 15th player for the European Tour card for 2014.
Rhys Davies (69) and Andrea Pavan (70), who finished on top of the 2013 Challenge Tour rankings, were tied for fourth at 11-under 277. Kapur, who began the week in 20th place on the Challenge Tour rankings vaulted to fourth following the winning cheque of Euros 56,650 which took his season’s earning from Challenge Tour to just over Euro 118,323.
The top three were Andrea Pavan (Euros 147,811), Lima (Euros 123,697) and American Brooks Koepka (Euros 119,433).
While Pavan played 23 events and Lima played 20, Koepka started in 10 and Kapur in just nine, which included two wins and a second place in the 25th year of Challenge Tour.
Kapur’s win in Dubai was his first international win outside India since his breakthrough triumph in his rookie year at the Volvo Masters of Asia in Bangkok in 2005. It was also Kapur’s third win in a season-ending Championship of any Tour – he did so on Asian tour in 2005, then the 2012 Shubhkamna Invitational on the Indian Tour and on Sunday Nov 3 it was the Dubai Festival City Challenge on the European Challenge Tour. -PTI
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