Chikka’s odyssey from Tokyo caddie to Panchkula victory

PANCHKULA: As a child, S Chikka Rangappa earned a few rupees daily as a ball spotter and caddie at the Eagleton Golf Resort, Bengaluru. Such was his talent that he rose to eminence from his humble origins and turned a professional golfer bagging 13 wins on the Indian tour and two international victories. But he missed a berth at the Tokyo Olympics by a whisker.Olympian Anirban Lahiri stepped in and generously offered Chikka the opportunity to caddie for him at Tokyo. That gave Chikka a golden opportunity to watch up and real close the world’s very best players. The Tokyo exposure stood him in good stead and Chikka shot a stunning 7-under-par 65 under difficult conditions on Saturday to win the Rs 50 lakh Tata Steel PGTI Players’ Championship presented by the Haryana government and Panchkula Golf Club (PGC).
Chikka publicly thanked “elder brother” Lahiri for granting him the opportunity to caddie at Tokyo because that Olympics exposure helped him tide over the neck-to-neck battle at the PGC with powerful hitter and overnight leader, Veer Ahlawat, and win by two strokes. After being presented the trophy and the winner’s cheque of Rs 8.08 lakh by DS Dhesi, chief principal secretary to the Haryana CM, Chikka narrated how his Tokyo stint had helped him get over the disappointment of missing a chance to once again don the India jacket and had put him in a strong frame of mind during Saturday’s closely-fought battle with Army brat, Ahlawat. It was Chikka’s 14th win on the India tour and he rose to second position on the 2020-2021 Order of Merit with total earnings of Rs 41.83 lakh.
“I watched the world’s elite players at Tokyo and observed that they keep the game very simple. They display great humility and are unmoved whether they shoot a very low round or have a bad day. Discipline and focus are the key to the game of the greatest players. I used to focus a lot on technique before my Tokyo experience, but I learnt not to complicate things and decluttered my mind and swing after that. It really helped me on Saturday, for example, after I dropped a double-bogey on the 8th hole, I kept very calm and put it behind me and used the mental formula of the Olympic greats to carry on without faltering. In earlier days, there was a good chance I would have got flustered and choked during the climax holes,” Chikka told the TOI.
As an amateur player, Chikka donned the India colours at the Eisenhower Trophy and Nomura Cup in 2011 and 2012, respectively. A keen wildlifer and devoted to the welfare of his parents, Chikka bested young Ahlawat on Saturday, the latter finishing at 18-under-pr after playing a round of 70. The leader after three rounds, Ahlawat paid the price for playing a somewhat defensive game as Chikka went on the charge on Saturday morning. Trailing three shots behind Ahlawat when play commenced, Chikka fired five birdies in the first seven holes against Ahlawat’s brace of birdies to draw level at 18-under-par for the championship.
While Ahlawat’s birdie bag remained quite empty after that, Chikka moved into high gear under mounting pressure and played some of his best shots as the climax neared. Of particular note was Chikka’s short game over the last six holes. He did not miss a single up-and-down from off the greens and holed two great putts for birdies at the 15th and 16th holes to move two strokes ahead of Ahlawat, a cushion he held onto successfully till the last putt was drained on the 18th green. The quality of Chikka's short game is reflected in the fact that he took just 24 putts for the round, including just 10 for the front nine.
Tricity's Yuvraj S Sandhu finished third, with Ranjit Singh coming in at 5th and Karandeep Kochhar at tied-6th.