Nepal’s No. 1 Golfer Shiva Ram rewrites history

Nepal has been organizing the Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd. Masters Golf tournament since 20 years. The SNPL Masters is the only international and biggest golf tournament in Nepal.  A joint-sanctioned event between the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and Nepal Professional Golfer Association, Masters is organized to promote Nepal as a golf destination and to enhance the golfing talent of local players by bringing them up to the international standers.

As the richest golfing event of Nepal, local golfers here had rare occasions to prove their excellence.  Deepak Thapa Magar was the first local golfer to prove his worth as he won the prestigious title of Masters to register the historic win in 2007 edition.

And after six years gap, Nepali golfers wait for another Masters trophy ended as a local number one Shivaram Shrestha was coveted with the title of 2013edition on May 28^th at Gleneagles-designed Gokarna Golf Course. Shrestha became the second Nepali professional golfer to win the title after Magar  

The most successful golfer of Nepal realized the Master’s dream after a dramatic finish in the last round where he overcame defending champion Indian golfer Abhijit Singh Chadha in a play-off.

Beginning three shots behind the overnight leader Chadha, the Nepali Number one golfer fought his way in contention and scripted a fairytale victory with a superlative effort of 5-under 67 on the final day to tie with defending champions at the over-all total of 18-under 270. Then the match was forced for the play off where Shrestha pulled the victory with six feet birdie shot in the par-4 18th hole as Chadha played a par. 

The Master’s title victory gave Shrestha his 22nd title of the career. The 29-year-old was thrilled to beat top class Indian golfers like Asian Tour star Anirban Lahari and Samim Khan on the field. "I knew it was going to be tough. But I also know that if I had kept my cool, I could be in contention, though youu can not imagine cake-walk at the Surya Nepal Masters.”
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With this achievement, Shrestha earned the biggest pay cheque of his career when he walked away with the winner’s booty of RS 775, 920.  Defending champions Chadha was forced to settle for the runners up cheque of RS. 535, 920 while Lahari was richer with RS. 300, 720 at the third place.

Shrestha, who hails from Kathmandu, was happy to have the biggest achievement of his life so far. He plans to play PGTI events regularly and have a dream of playing Asian Tour in future.

Shrestha had the relationship with golf since his early childhood as his Father Arjun Shrestha served at Royal Nepal Golf Club for more than 20 years. The top earner of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour, Shrestha wants to continue his golf until his last breaths.

At the age of 14, Shrestha got engaged with golf as a ball boy then turned to caddie a few years later.

He then started the amateur career and succeeds to win the Surya Nepal Western Open in 2005. Shrestha’s professional career started in 2007where he clinched CMS Open. Then, he never looked back as he continued winning titles. He won five trophies in season 2008-2009.

Though he could not catch up his form in the season of 2009-10 owing to his injuries from a bike accident, Shrestha made a comeback in the season of 2010-11 with five titles in Surya Nepal Golf tour and occupied the top ranking of Nepali professional golfers. Currently Nepal’s number one golfer Shrestha claimed the title on 2011-12 and four titles on 2012-13.