Calcutta, India: Subhash Tamang became the first golfer from Nepal to win the All-India Amateur Championships, overwhelming local hope Rohit 9&7 in the 36-hole final. The 122nd edition of the prestigious championship was organised by the Indian Golf Union (IGU) at the iconic Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

The 21-year-old Tamang, who was neck-and-neck with Rohit for the first 15 holes, pulled away to three-up at the half-way mark. In the afternoon session, the Nepalese was unstoppable and the match ended when he was nine ahead with seven holes left.

“This is the happiest moment of my life,” said Tamang, who entered the week ranked 153rd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and will move up significantly once the latest rankings are released.

Taking up golf at age 10, Tamang was first spotted by Tashi Ghale, the President of the Nepal Golf Association. Ghale took him to Deepak Acharya, the Director of Operations and teaching professional at Gokarna Golf Club, where Tamang trained and played.

In early 2022, Ghale and Acharya helped Tamang relocate to India and train with teaching pro Tarun Sardesai at his academy near Bengaluru. Sardesai now trains the Nepali golf team.

Tamang finished 54th at the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Thailand and missed the cut at this year's championship in Melbourne.

The flagship event of the IGU, the All-India Amateur Championships began with a 36-hole stroke play event to narrow the field to 32 for the match play stage.

Finishing fourth in the stroke play event at the start of the week, Tamang made his way through numerous rivals in match play to reach the final. His toughest match came in the first round, when he won on the 19th hole against Kanav Chauhan.

Tamang beat Vishesh Sharma in the last 16 and Dhruv Suri in the quarter-finals by similar margins of 4 & 3. In the semi-finals, the Nepalese golfer upset top seed Altin Van der Merwe of South Africa 3&1.

In the team event based on the stroke play score, South Africa emerged as winners through Van Der Merwe and Jordan Clay Burnand with a total of 286. The duo, however, crashed out in the match play semi-finals, losing to Tamang and Rohit respectively.

The India A team of Sandeep Yadav and Rohit were second on 294, while India B comprising Vinamra Anand and Shaurya Bhattacharya were third on 295.

Established in 1892, the All-India Amateur Championships is India’s oldest golf tournament and has taken place each year except during the two World Wars and in 2020 due to Covid-19.