Coussaud wins The Challenge, Aman Raj finishes as best Indian

BENGALURU: Frenchman Ugo Coussaud took the top honours with a gallant final round of five-under 67 at The Challenge 2023 here on Friday.

The 30-year-old Ugo (68-67-68-67), who was overnight tied sixth and four off the lead, came from behind in dramatic fashion to triumph by one shot at a total of 18-under 270 at the event co-sanctioned by the Challenge Tour and PGTI.

Ugo’s first win on the circuit earned him a prize money cheque of USD 48,000 (Rs 39,84,000) and took him from fifth to first position in the Challenge Tour Road to Mallorca standings.

Spaniard Manuel Elvira (70-67-68-66), who shot the day’s best 66, finished joint runner-up along with Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach (69-64-68-70). Frenchman Frederic Lacroix (70) and round three leader Lars Van Meijel (73) of The Netherlands, shared fourth place at 16-under 272. Aman Raj (68-67-69-69) finished as the best Indian in tied sixth place at 15-under 273.

Ugo, who has two other top-10 finishes to his credit in the season, conceded just one bogey the whole week. He made long birdie conversions on the eighth and ninth to close the gap with the lead. Ugo, who finished 21st last week at KGA, then produced some great wedge shots on the back-nine to set up birdies on the 12th, 16th and 17th thus ending up with an error-free last round.

Aman Raj, lying overnight tied eighth and five off the lead, had a slow start with a three-putt bogey on the second. He then put together four birdies but missed a couple of eagle putts and some birdie putts towards the end that halted his progress.

Aman gained two spots on the final day and posted his fourth top-10 in four starts this season on the PGTI to cement himself in second position in the TATA Steel PGTI Rankings behind Om Prakash Chouhan. He picked up a cheque of Rs 8,30,000 for his effort this week.