It was a sort of preparatory match for local lad Bakshi who will be flying to Malaysia on Sunday to take part in the Asian Junior Championship as he took on his Malaysian rival who he would be playing with next week. After teeing off in extremely cold conditions, Rahul warmed up with a birdie on the second to go 1-up and kept the pressure to win the fourth and fifth with a birdie and par respectively and by the eighth he was 4-up. When it looked like it was going to be a one-sided affair, Arie pulled one back with a good par on the ninth after being in the jungle on the left.

On the back nine, Bakshi got lucky on the par-3 11th where his tee shot back-kicked and climbed the green from where he made a par. Even as he was about to walk to the next tee, he could not believe his opponent missing a small par putt which gave the local lad a 4-up lead. However on the CNN Hole-in-One Par-3, 14th, where the prize for a hole-in one fetches a new golf set, Arie sank an incredible 15-footer for a birdie against Rahul's par to reduce the lead. However with the next two holes being halved, the players did the customary handshake on the 16th hole itself. "I think the first eight holes proved crucial as I won four holes. That gave me the confidence and enough lead. I just had to sustain and defend the lead rather than be greedy to finish the match early," said the former St. John's student. “It will be great to finish the amateur season with a victory and that too an All India title,” added the 17-year-old.

The other match which pitched the young Abhishek Jha who has already two wins on the LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour and the man-in-form Manav Das a three time winner on the Tour this season. It was Das who called the first shots when Jha made a bogey on the opening hole after a bad shot off the tee. Unlike the first semifinal which saw many birdies and pars being made, the issues were settled with pars and bogeys as Jha leveled the score on the par-3 third and went 1-up ahead on the sixth. Finally on the par-3 eighth, Das made a birdie to equalize. Jha, in a reminiscent of his quarterfinal heroics, parred the par-4 ninth after he did not have any shot on his second and had to play left-handed to chip-out on the fairway. His third shot landed just a couple of feet from the pin.

With the scores level after the first nine, it seemed the match actually began from the 10th. Both the players were consistent - Jha in making pars and Das in making bogeys! While Jha made six pars in a row, Das made four bogeys in six holes to give Jha an unbeatable 4-up lead by the 15th where the lanky Jha saved an amazing par. After hitting his drive on the left of the par-4 15th, hit behind a tree on the left and chipped to about 11 feet with a scary looking left to right curving putt. The moment the ball left the putter, Jha was sure that it had found its mark and exulted in joy. "It was very cold out there - I could not feel my hands on the first few holes," said Jha.

“It was because of Manav's mistakes that I won but I could have played better,” admitted the Bangalore lad.

The 36-hole final between two of the best amateurs of the country promises to be an exciting affair.

Results: