By Rahul Banerji
Akshay Sharma made it a start to finish run at the Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship with a five-shot victory, riding a final round of 5-under-67 on Saturday in Panchkula.
It gave the 30-year-old his second title with a tournament tally to 24-under-264 which also equalled the record for the lowest winning total on the PGTI previously jointly held by Anirban Lahiri and Rashid Khan.
Sharma led from the first round at the Rs. 30 lakh event, the first tournament to be staged on the PGTI in eight months, the tour’s media office said.
Karandeep Kochhar, also from Chandigarh, put together an error-free 67 to take second place with a 19-under-269 for the week.
Pune-based Udayan Mane shot the day’s joint best round of 66 to claim tied third place at 14-under-274 alongside Bangalore’s Chikkarangappa S. (69).
Extending his lead
Mane thus extended his lead in the PGTI Order of Merit and will also move up in the world rankings from his current 290th position.
Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, another Chandigarh golfer, finished fifth at 11-under-277 after he carded a last round of 67.
Sharma (64-66-67-67), the overnight leader by five shots, was never threatened at any stage on Saturday with the field struggling to catch up.
The Chandigarh golfer got an early boost with an eagle on the third where he holed his second shot from 75 yards.
A bogey followed but he quickly negated that with birdies on the fifth and sixth holes where he landed inside two feet of the flag.
No letting up
Up be five at the turn, Sharma was unrelenting on the back nine too as he picked up three more birdies including one on the par-4 11th where he drove the green.
He finally bogeyed the last hole to miss out on setting a record for the lowest winning total on the PGTI. Interestingly, Akshay dropped just two bogeys and one double during the week.
Sharma’s tournament tally of 24-under-264 equaled Lahiri and Rashid Khan’s previous lowest winning totals on the PGTI.
While Lahiri posted the score at the PGTI Players Championship in Aamby Valley in 2010, Khan matched it at the City Bank American Express Chittagong Open in 2019.
Udayan Mane’s 26-under-262 at the Tata Steel Tour Championship in 2019 was achieved with the ‘preferred lie’ rule being in force, so it will not be counted as a record.
Sharma, who won his first professional title at the QA InfoTech Open in Noida in 2018, took home a winner’s cheque worth Rs. 4,84,950.
Solid climb
He also climbed from 29th to fourth place in the PGTI Order of Merit.
“I was quite relaxed from the very outset today,” the elated Sharma said.
“I knew that I just had to make regulations to stay ahead. The eagle on the third hole made things easier for me.
“I had worked on my weakness, my temperament, during the three months of lockdown when the courses were closed. Today I played with a very cool mind and didn’t feel much pressure.
“The 64 in the first round at Panchkula really set it up for me. It was a bonus since I didn’t expect to go that low.
Confidence high
“I now head to my home course Chandigarh for the next event with loads of confidence knowing that I’ll again be playing at the two courses where I’ve done well this week.”
Kochhar (68-65-69-67), who trailed by five at the start of the day, produced five birdies on the day but was unable to catch up.
Kochhar, who won on the PGTI in 2016 as a 17-year-old while still an amateur, moved up from 23rd to seventh place on the PGTI Order of Merit after his runner-up finish in Panchkula.
Gurgaon’s Veer Ahlawat fired a 66 to secure tied sixth place at 10-under-278 along with Kolkata’s Viraj Madappa (71).
Chandigarh’s Amrit Lal (68) was eighth at nine-under-279 while Patna’s Aman Raj (67) was a further shot back in ninth.
Also read: Akshay Sharma opens up a solid buffer at Panchkula
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