Perera ends winless streak at Chennai Open 2018 Golf Championship

Perera, the overnight leader by three shots, came up with a tenacious even-par-70 in the final round to sign off with a winning total of 14-under-266. 

Gurgaon-based Digvijay Singh posted the day’s best score, a scorching eight-under-62, to finish joint runner-up at 13-under-267 along with Mukesh Kumar (66) of Mhow, the winner of the last edition of the Chennai Open. 

Mithun Perera (68-63-65-70) had an unexpectedly quiet final day as he managed only two birdies and two bogeys. But the 31-year-old came through after his closest rival, good friend and compatriot N Thangaraja’s (6170-68-69) challenge faded away on the back-nine. 

Perera, who bagged his sixth title on the PGTI, said, “I was really hungry to win and break my victory drought. This means a lot for me. My family has supported me throughout my lean phase and so have my sponsors. I thank them all for backing me through all these years,” Perera said.

“I had a shaky start today. But I played my normal game even after Thanga went in the lead. I kept in touch with the lead with a long birdie conversion on the ninth and a tap-in birdie on the 12th. I then got a little lucky when Thanga opened the door for me with that poor second shot on the 14th that rolled into the bunker and led to a bogey for him,” said Perera.

“Thereafter, my confidence was sky-high as I knew Thanga had literally given away the match after having a firm hold on it. I then just had one blemish on the 17th but kept my nerve to come through at the end. The week’s been fantastic as far as my hitting is concerned. I’ve been accurate off the tee and with the approaches. I’ve also kept the errors out having dropped just three bogeys all week,” Perera added.