Kathmandu January 23

Bijay Bahadur Shrestha won the title of the first of the two-round finals of the Surya Nepal Gokarna Monthly Medal here at the Gokarna Golf Club today.

Shrestha carded three-under nett 69 to lift the trophy. Five golfers, Dr Bhagwan Koirala, Ang Dorjee Sherpa, Jigmay Dongstetsang, SSP Rajendra Shrestha and Sumed Bhattarai were tied at two-under 70. On the count back Dr Koirala finished runner-up and Sherpa came third.

SSP Rajendra Shrestha won the gross section trophy on count back after he was tied on six-over 78 with Vijay Einhaus. Tenzing Sherpa won the junior section title with the score of five-under 67.

A total of 27 golfers, who qualified for finals after 10 monthly medal rounds, took part in the tournament sponsored by Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd. President of Gokarna Golf Club Suhrid Ghimire gave away the prizes to the winners.

After the first leg of finals, Bijay Bahadur Shrestha leads nett category table with 350 points, while Kishan Agrawal is second with 242. SSP Shrestha is third at 210, followed by Andrew Murray (176) and Purna Man Shakya (162). In gross section, SSP Shrestha is at the top with 560 points, while Prithivi Malla is second at 410. Gopal Chitrakar is third at 304, followed by Andrew Murray (240) and Tendi Sherpa (230). Among the juniors Mayank Dahal leads the table with 480 points, while Aditi Ghimire is second with 460, and Sam Doublard is third with 340.

The final leg of the tournament will be played on February 13 to decide the club champions in nett, gross and junior categories.