Written By: Radha Seth 

 

Gurugram: Pune’s young golfing talent, Udayan Mane augmented his chances in the Tokyo Olympics Qualification after lifting the 30 lakh Rupees Prize money in the Delhi-NCR Open Golf Championship 2021. He won his 11th title on PGTI on Friday. 

 

Udayan Mane getting ready for a stellar swing

 

The 30-year-old golfing talent claims his third title of the 2020-2021 PGTI season with a two-shot victory on the sprawling greens of the Golden Greens Golf Club in Gurugram. He carded a 14-under-274 to persist by two strokes. This title comes along a golden chance of surging his world ranking from his current 275th position. It raises hopes of qualifying for the major event in Tokyo.

 

His win at the PGTI event wasn’t a run-off-the-hill thing. It was more of a shot in the arm for the young talent, who will now earn five world ranking points and outnumbers Rashid Khan, who has secured the 326th position at the moment). Thus, he becomes the highest-ranked Indian Golfer during the recent release of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) on Monday.

 

With a high contention for the Olympic qualification, Mane feels that his win in Gurugram will increase his confidence along with his global ranking.

 

"The win couldn't have come at a better time for me as the race for qualification to the Olympics is quite intense at the moment with the likes of Gaganjeet, Rashid, Chikka, Karandeep, and Aman Raj, all being strong contenders," he said.

 

"I still have some time to get back to where my game was at the start of the season last year. But the work I've put in is now paying off. I just need to keep doing the same thing, I'm definitely on the right track. My tee shots and putting stood out this week. I also gave myself a lot of birdie chances," he added.