Indian Open Day 4: SSP Chawrasia a class apart

Final leaderboard

-10 SSP Chawrasia
-3 Gavin Green
-2 Scott Jamieson, Matteo Manassero
-1 Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Anirban Lahiri, Carlos Pigem

Scroll down for full collated scores

Day four report

SSP Chawrasia claimed his fourth European Tour title on home soil, and a fourth in Delhi, after mounting a hugely impressive title defence in the Hero Indian Open. 

Chawrasia carded a final round of 71 to finish 10 under par and seven shots ahead of Malaysia's Gavin Green, with just seven players ending the tournament under par.

Italy's Matteo Manassero and Scotland's Scott Jamieson shared third place on two under, with Spain's Carlos Pigem carding a double bogey on the 72nd hole to drop into a tie for fifth with compatriot Rafa Cabrera Bello and former champion Anirban Lahiri.

Chawrasia ranks 195th out of 196 for driving distance on the European Tour and was not expected to be suited by the change of venue from the tight, tree-lined Delhi Golf Club to DLF Golf and Country Club, which can play to more than 7,600 yards.

But the diminutive 38-year-old managed his game superbly and utilised his brilliant short game to card just six bogeys all week.

"I'm winning back-to-back so I'm really very happy," Chawrasia said. "I was very happy to have everyone supporting me and having my wife here too to see me winning the Indian Open two times.

"I learned many things this week and hopefully I can play better in Europe. That's my target next, I have to win in Europe.

"This is probably my best win of my career as it was a really tough course. This week I made less mistakes and others made more mistakes."

Chawrasia, Pigem and England's Eddie Pepperell shared the lead when the delayed third round resumed on Sunday, with Chawrasia carding a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th to establish a two-shot lead.

In contrast, Pepperell played his last seven holes in seven over par to drop out of contention and eventually finished in a tie for 22nd after a closing 76.

Chawrasia extended his lead in the final round with a birdie on the fourth and although he bogeyed the sixth and seventh, birdies on the next two holes gave him a commanding advantage which was never threatened.

Final collated scores

278 S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind) 72 67 68 71

285 Gavin Green (Mal) 72 73 65 75

286 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 68 73 72 73, Scott Jamieson 70 74 70 72

287 Carlos Pigem (Spa) 69 73 67 78, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 73 73 70 71, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 76 73 67 71

288 David Horsey 66 74 76 72, George Coetzee (Rsa) 73 74 69 72, Michael Hoey 71 71 71 75

289 Pep Angles (Spa) 73 70 77 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 75 72 73 69

290 Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 73 74 69 74, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 72 74 70 74, Nathan Kimsey 72 77 73 68, Danthai Boonma (Tha) 75 72 72 71

291 Peter Uihlein (USA) 72 75 68 76, Lasse Jensen (Den) 70 77 73 71, Jordan Smith 75 73 72 71, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 75 74 72 70

292 Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 73 77 75 67

293 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 73 73 74 73, Chris Hanson 76 72 69 76, Chiragh Kumar (Ind) 73 75 71 74, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 73 76 73 71, Eddie Pepperell 69 70 78 76, Poom Saksansin (Tha) 76 74 72 71, Steven Tiley 70 74 74 75

294 Stephen Gallacher 70 73 78 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 76 71 77, Angelo Que (Phi) 70 74 74 76, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 72 72 80 70, Danny Chia (Mal) 70 69 81 74

295 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 71 79 74 71, Chikkarangappa S (Ind) 72 76 75 72, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 75 80 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 74 72 79, Scott Vincent 74 74 72 75

296 Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 75 75 73 73

297 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 72 76 71 78, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 72 80 74, Daniel Im (USA) 74 72 79 72

298 Sam Walker 70 75 77 76, Shih-Chang Chan (Tpe) 74 75 72 77, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 73 74 78 73, Daniel Brooks 73 71 75 79, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 74 74 76 74, Shamim Khan (Ind) 74 74 73 77

299 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 78 74 75, Matthew Nixon 74 74 72 79

300 Miguel Tabuena (Phi) 73 72 83 72, Nicholas Fung (Mal) 73 75 73 79, Romain Wattel (Fra) 79 71 74 76, Sebastien Gros (Fra) 74 75 74 77

301 Anthony Wall 70 78 78 75, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 74 76 72 79, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 76 74 77 74, Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind) 73 77 77 74, Paul Peterson (USA) 70 72 81 78

302 Deepinder Kullar (Ind) 76 74 76 76, Thanyakon Khrongpha (Tha) 77 71 78 76, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 74 76 78 74, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 77 70 75 80

303 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 75 70 79 79

304 Lionel Weber (Fra) 75 72 85 72

306 Nino Bertasio (Ita) 67 80 76 83

308 Rashid Khan (Ind) 73 76 78 81

309 Rigel Fernandes (a) (Ind) 72 76 84 77

310 Abhijit singh Chadha (Ind) 76 73 79 82

Day three report

England's Eddie Pepperell holds a share of the lead after 11 holes of the third round in the weather-affected Hero Indian Open.

Pepperell, defending champion SSP Chawrasia and Spain's Carlos Pigem had all reached six under par when play was suspended due to darkness at DLF Golf and Country Club.

Malaysia's Gavin Green was one stroke behind after chipping in for birdie on the 17th with the last shot of the day, with England's David Horsey and Northern Ireland's Michael Hoey on four under.

Pepperell had been one of 66 players forced to complete their second rounds on Saturday morning after more than four hours of play was lost over the first two days due to bad weather.

The 26-year-old, who lost his card last season before regaining it at the qualifying school, played his remaining 16 holes in two under par to join SSP Chawrasia and Danny Chia in the halfway lead.

Chia then moved to the top of the leaderboard with a birdie on the first in round three, only to lose two balls on the second and run up a quintuple-bogey nine.

Pepperell followed five pars with a bogey on the sixth, but bounced back with birdies on the eighth and ninth to boost his chances of claiming a first European Tour title.

"I guess I can take confidence from what I've done," Pepperell said. "I managed to keep my form pretty good all day. I'll try to do that again (on Sunday).

"The greens are firm, the pin positions are tricky. The greens are like something you would find at Disneyland. It's difficult. The fairways are tight, there's no let-up. You need to hit good shot after good shot.

"I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing. I've got a game-plan."

Day two report

Defending champion SSP Chawrasia surged to the top of the leaderboard before bad weather disrupted the Hero Indian Open for the second day in succession.

Chawrasia carded a flawless second round of 67 at DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi to finish five under par and a shot ahead of England's David Horsey.

Play was then suspended for more than two and a half hours due to the threat of lightning, leaving 66 players to complete their second rounds on Saturday.

Italy's Matteo Manassero and England's Eddie Pepperell were three under par after seven and two holes of their rounds respectively.

"I'm very happy," said Kolkata-born Chawrasia, who missed from two feet for birdie on the ninth, his final hole of the day. "The first day I was level par as I was a little bit scared as it's a new course and it's very tricky.

"It's tougher than Delhi GC (where he won 12 months ago), so I just focused on hitting it straight. The greens are tough. All the time, you need full concentration on every single shot.

"Last year I won, so I have lots of positivity. And now I'm leading so obviously I'm confident and I'm trying to win this tournament again. Hopefully I'll play good the next two days."

Horsey had three holes of his first round to complete on Friday and finished with two pars and a birdie for a superb 66, but then recorded three bogeys and a double bogey in a second round of 74.

"Towards the end I was getting a bit tired," he said. "I didn't sleep very well last night and it was an early start, up at half past four this morning.

"I'm a little bit disappointed with the finish, I left a few putts out there on the back nine. But still, I'm only one behind just now, that's not a bad position going into the weekend.

"I four-putted eight and missed a short one on nine, so I've wasted three or four shots there on the greens."

Day one report

David Horsey edged into a one-shot lead shortly before play was suspended due to darkness on a weather-delayed opening day of the Hero Indian Open.

Matteo Manassero held the clubhouse lead on four under with 67 players, including Horsey, yet to complete their first rounds after play was suspended for over an hour and a half due to the threat of lightning at the DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi.

Horsey made birdies at the second and sixth before picking up three in four holes around the turn, and the Englishman had just parred the long 15th when fading light forced the players from the course.

The four-time European Tour winner's mid-round birdie salvo took him ahead of Manassero, who was safely in the clubhouse having recovered from a double-bogey at his first hole to return a battling 68.

Manassero, without a victory since winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2013, got off to a torrid start with a six at the 10th and was one over for the day until a birdie at the 17th prompted a sparkling run.

The young Italian picked up five shots in six holes on the back of some sublime iron play, including three approaches to inside six feet, and he converted another precise wedge to eight feet at the eighth to cap a sterling comeback.

"I have had three weeks at home and to come back to a tough course like this, it's never easy," Manassero said. "So the fact that I found a lot of birdies, it's very, very positive and I'll try to keep it that way.

"You have to be always in play, otherwise there will be a lot of high numbers and a lot of doubles It's very easy to lose shots on this course."

Horsey's fellow Englishman Eddie Pepperell also made an encouraging start as he posted a three-under 69, while Sam Walker and Steven Tiley opened with solid 70s to bolster the English presence at the top of the leaderboard.

Pepperell bounced back from a six at the long fourth with three birdies in four holes from the sixth, and he added another at the 11th before undoing much of his good work with back-to-back bogeys at 14 and 15.

But the popular 26-year-old again responded positively with birdies at each of the last two holes to get back to three under, with Spain's Carlos Pigem and Frenchman Gregory Havret also two off the lead with two and six holes to play respectively.

Ryder Cup star Rafa Cabrera Bello did well to salvage a one-over 73 despite having three double-bogeys on his card, which also featured five birdies, but home favourite and 2015 champion Anirban Lahiri has work to do to make the cut after he opened with an erratic 76 blighted by a run of three bogeys followed by a triple-bogey late in his round.