SCOTTSDALE – Mahanth Chirravuri captured the 99th Arizona Amateur Championship at Desert Highlands Saturday, draining a 25-foot eagle putt on 18 to win the hole and a thrilling match over Kiko Coelho. View the final results of both Stroke Play Qualifying and each of the Nicklaus, Palmer, Watson and Player Match Play brackets by clicking here.
“I played really well all week,” said Chirravuri, 19, a Pepperdine transfer after spending his freshman year at the University of Southern California. “I think I won 18 three times, and you need to win 18 if you’re going to win this tournament. I played great coming in, Kiko played awesome as well. He made so many putts that kept the match going.”
Coelho trailed most of the match, falling behind on the second hole and trailing by two on the 12th tee. But he battled back with a putting display for the ages, one-putting holes 12 through 17, the last of which was for birdie to tie the match.
“I started a little slow again today, my distance control wasn’t great and I wasn’t making the putts I needed to make,” said Coelho, 20, an incoming junior at Arizona State University from Lisbon, Portugal. “I had a great match against Mahanth today. It’s always great preparation [for the upcoming ASU season].”
Chirravuri did his best to withstand Coelho’s back-nine putting display by countering with some outstanding iron play. Approaches to the back-to-back Par-3 15th and 16th holes ended up five and eight feet from the cup, respectively. He would convert the first birdie, but not the second, moving to the 17th tee up one. Coelho hit his second shot greenside left, navigating a chip to five feet for birdie. Chirravuri could not get up and down from behind the green in two, losing the hole and heading to 18 with the match tied.
“I hit a great putt, and it just went in – it was kind of a tough putt as well, it broke quite a bit,” said Chirravuri, a member of two Arizona High School State Championship teams, and an individual State Champion at Hamilton High School in Chandler. “For that to go in at that moment was pretty cool, and I’m just so happy that it went in.”
“What a fantastic match to cap an amazing couple of weeks here at Desert Highlands,” said Joe Foley, Executive Director of the Arizona Golf Association. “Mahanth and Kiko put on a show on the back nine today – it was an epic watch. Kudos to the first-class golf staff and agronomy team at Desert Highlands for providing an elevated experience for our players in all facets.”
Full Bracket and scores from the week of the 99th Annual Arizona Amateur Championship at Desert Highlights Golf Club in Scottsdale can be found by clicking here. Full recaps can be found on the Arizona Golf Association website. And a wide selection of content from each day of the tournament can be found on the AGA’s social media channels: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
