Abhijit Singh Chadha receives the winning cheque and trophy from Mr. Lalit Chinchankar, Captain, Poona Club Golf Course (2nd from left), Mr. George Bennet Kuruvilla, General Manager, The Westin Pune (extreme left) and Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI (2nd from right). Also seen in the picture is Mr. Sampath Chari, Tournament Director, PGTI (extreme right).
Chandigarh’s Abhijit Chadha set what is probably a record in Indian golfing history by going 71 holes bogey free while winning the PGTI’s Pune Open Golf Championship by six shots from left handed tour rookie Kartik Sharma.
The long hitting Chadha rebounded from an opening bogey in Rd 1 to shoot 63, his lowest score of the week. He followed that up with rounds of 65-64-66 to finish at 21-under 258 while Kartik finished at 15-under 264. This is Chadha’s third title and his first since October, 2015.
Chadha was a shot behind Sharma after 36 holes but his 64 on Day 3 gave him a a two-shot lead and his closing 66 gave him a comfortable win in the end. Sharma hit 81.9% of greens in regulation, including 17/18 in the final round. He complimented his excellent ball striking with good work on the greens, averaging just 27.5 putts a round. “I’m very proud of my effort as I handled myself really well the whole week, especially with the conditions not being favourable. I didn’t expect it to be so calm today, but Kartik made a few mistakes early on, and I capitalized on them. From there on, it was just about keeping the ball in play. So I was quite relaxed for most of the round,” Chadha said.
“When I holed that final putt, it was a feeling of relief and also validation of all the hard work that I’ve done and the inputs that I’ve got coming from everywhere. It’s great to see everything coming together. My caddie, the seasoned Raju, did a great job. He was superb and very professional throughout the week,” he added.
Defending champion Kshitij Kaul, who won last week in Kolkata, finished 13th at 5-under.
The PGTI tour takes a week’s break before it’s finale in Jamshedpur – the Rs 1.5 crore Tata Steel Tour Championship, which will bring the curtain down on a 22 month long season in which only 21-events could be staged, because of the pandemic.
Tournament Leaderboard – https://www.pgtofindia.com/tournament/621/score#tab-score
Credits:-
Photo – PGTI