In a remarkable finish to the tournament, Anura Rohana clinched the Surya Nepal Masters title with an eagle on the final hole to win his first professional tournament. With a round of three-under 69, he finished two ahead of his compatriot, Mithun Perera, who returned a card of even-par 72 to finish at ten-under 278 for the tournament.

Kunal Bhasin, who was in the mix of things till the leader group made the turn, finished in sole third place, one clear of last year’s winner Shamim Khan who finished with a four-day total of six-under 282.

It wasn’t an auspicious start for Rohana as he made a double-bogey on the opening hole with Perera hitting his second shot right at the pin. A tap-in biride put Perera four in front. But, by the time the 22-year-old amateur reached the 5th, he already had more bogeys on his card than he had in the first three rounds.

Kunal Bhasin, the third member of the leading trio made three consecutive birdies to move within one shot of the two leaders who were at eight-under for the tournament after eight holes.

Perera shook off the nerves and found his rhythm once again as he too made three straight birdies to pull ahead. By the time the players reached the 15th, it was clearly a two-horse race, as Bhasin could not add to his tally of birdies. The par-5 15th was undoubtedly a turning point as Rohana saved par after finding water from the tee while Perera bogeyed after his third shot went over the green.

The two were still tied for the lead at ten-under as they walked down the 18th fairway. Perera hit his second shot to within 15 feet from the pin, and left himself with a chance for birdie. Faced with a tricky 54-yard shot, Rohana calmly measured the distance to the pin, took his time and hit a bump-and-run shot, which pitched short of the green and after three bounces found the bottom of the hole; it was good enough for Rohana to bag his first title. Perera, still an amateur, stole the limelight from the professionals but the win still eluded him. "I just did not play that well today. It was a great experience for me but I was disappointed not to have done well on the final day," Perera said.

For Rohana, the 5000 US$ prize purse was a just reward for four rounds of hard work. "For me more important than the eagle on the final hole was the par on the 15th. That is where I won the title," he said.

He heaped praise on his playing partner, saying, "Perera is a really solid player. I always knew this was going to be tough for me but right now I am just happy to have finally won a title."

It was a grand finish for Nepal’s only international golf tournament and the people who had come out on the final day to catch the action would not have gone back disappointed.

276: Anura Rohana (73,65,69,69), 278: Mithun Perera (A) (68,70,68,72), 281: Kunal Bhasin (71,72,69,69), 282: Shamim Khan (71,71,71,69), 283: Harinder Gupta (69,72,72,70), 285: Ashok Kumar (69,73,74,69), 285: Deepak Thapa Magar (74,71,69,71) 285: Mandeo Pathania (74,73,66,72), 287: Siddikur Rahman (74,76,67,70), 288: Rafick Ali (74,74,70,70), 289: Chiragh Kumar (74,72,73,70), 290: Shiv Ram Shrestha (68,75,74,73), 291: Shankar Das (74,73,73,71), 292: Ram Thapa (75,73,68,76).