Varun Parikh tops PGTI Q School as 40 earn full tour cards

By Rahul Banerji

Local boy Varun Parikh dominated round four of the Final Qualifying Stage with a clinical 5-under par 67 for a solid eight-shot victory in the Tata Steel PGTI Qualifying School in Ahmedabad on Friday.

Parikh totalled 16-under 272 at the Kalhaar Blues & Greens Golf Club, with Gurgaon-based Sunhit Bishnoi taking second place on 8-under 280.

Bishnoi aggregated an 8-under 280 with rounds of 66, 72, 73 and 69.

Chandigarh’s Vishav Pratap Singh Gill (77-71-70-70) finished as the best amateur in tied third place on level-par 288. Jay Pandya (72-72-74-70) of Ahmedabad finished alongside him.

The cut in the final round fell at 11-over 299 with the top 40 earning their full cards for the 2022 Tata Steel PGTI season including seven amateurs.

Two professionals from Bangladesh, one from Nepal and an American were among those earning their full cards.

Parikh (67-69-69-67), overnight leader by six shots who also led from the second round onwards, produced the best score of the last round to stamp his authority at the event.

Hot start

Parikh made a terrific start on Friday as he birdied the first two holes – making a long conversion on the first and producing an outstanding tee shot on the par-3 second.

He then hit cruise mode en route a comfortable win, adding four more birdies including three conversions from between 10 and 20 feet while dropping one shot.

“I was disappointed after a poor season last year but this performance gives me the self-belief to bounce back,” Parikh said.

“I believe if I can shoot a score of 16-under at one of the most challenging courses, Kalhaar, then I can perform well at any other course.

“My iron-play was outstanding today as I made 16 greens in regulation. Sunhit was also playing really well. It kept me on my toes and helped me push ahead.

“I was also playing more free golf coming into this week. I was in a relaxed frame of mind and not thinking too much about the result.

“I would like to thank my coach Jesse Grewal for fine-tuning my swing, my short-game and helping me with the mental aspect of my game and also Devang Shah for giving me valuable advice on the matter.”

Parikh bagged a prize money cheque of Rs. 75,000 for his win.

Nepal’s Sukra Bahadur Rai had the best finish among the overseas pros to share 13^th place on 4-over 292.

Chandigarh-based twins Brashwarpal Singh (T13, 4-over 292) and Bishmadpal Singh Seerha (T21, 7-over 295), both amateurs, also earned full playing rights on the PGTI after finishing inside the top 40.

Final Stage qualifiers

Varun Parikh, Sunhit Bishnoi, Vishav Pratap Singh Gill (A), Jay Pandya, Chandarjeet Yadav, Jairaj Singh Sandhu, Pukhraj Singh Gill, Lakshya Nagar, Karan Taunk, Pranav Kaul.

Anshul Patel, Hemendra Choudhary, Sukra Bahadur Rai, Shravan Desai, Arjun Bhati (A), Divesh Rana, Brashwarpal Singh (A), Akshay Nerajnen (A), Ravi Kumar, Ravi Bais.

Abhishek Jha, Wasim Khan, Bishmadpal Singh Seerha (A), Vijay Kumar, Saarthak Chibber, Md Akbar Hossain, Pravin J. Pathare, Manav Jaini, Rohan Dhole Patil (A), Karan Vasudeva.

Digvijay Singh, Pranav Harshawardhan Mardikar, Md Muaj, Senthil Kumar, Martendeya Kanishka Sinha, Aditya Raj Kumar Chauhan, Digraj Singh Gill, Rajesh Kumar (P), Raja B.R., Manish Thakran.

Also read: Eagle-eagle Parikh vaults into second round Q School lead