Sudarshan Yellamaraju had no intention of reliving the same nightmare twice. After an overtime loss last week at the inaugural East Coast Pro Tour (ECPT), the Ontarian made sure to walk away with the trophy at the Niagara Championship on Friday.
Extra time was needed for the second time in as many tournaments. The caliber of play being increasingly high on the Quebec circuit at the start of the season, players must learn to negotiate with more pressure from their rivals.
Yellamaraju lost in Belleville to Thomas Giroux barely a week ago.
The 21-year-old golfer returned -8 after both rounds, like Étienne Papineau and Drew Nesbitt. The Canadian of Indian origin did not make the suspense last long, by making an eagle at the overtime hole. “I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to win at home in Ontario and I’m glad it happened. And doing it in overtime is pretty special too, ”he revealed the day after his victory, en route to qualifying for a Korn Ferry circuit tournament.
It will take it all
The eventual winner brought back two rounds of four under par. At the end of the first, he was in second position. “I knew anyone with two or three shots over had a chance too. »
He admits to having “started slowly with normals. It was a rather complex day because of the wind. »
Yellamaraju still played a bogey-free final round. He even thought he was running short when he reached 18e given the quality of Nesbitt’s game. “I still played well last week even though I finished second, especially in the second round. But here I am particularly proud to have played a final round without bogey. It was still difficult to birdie on the back nine.
Finally, he will have played three holes under par in the second half of the round.
“I feel liberated, because last week I was in pretty much the same kind of situation. So I knew what I had to do. I had to stall my roll and stay calm. »
A hot start
With this third victory in the professional ranks and his second place last week, the Ontarian leads the general classification of the circuit.
The main interested party is obviously delighted, even if he felt that his progress would allow him to play golf of this quality before long.
“I expected it a bit, I played well this winter, I did some competitions in Arizona to start the year. I play well, I have quite low scores. I always expect to play well, but when it happens, it’s reassuring. Since it’s hard to win every week, I just play well every week. »
Thanks to this gain, Yellamaraju got his hands on a check for $6,000. He wanted his parents to appear with him in the photo with the big box.
“They are always there to encourage and support me. Most of the time they travel with me to every tournament. I’m always happy to share my success with them, because it’s theirs too. »