Age no bar for Arjun Singh who wins PGTI Qualifying School at 50

By Rahul Banerji

Arjun Singh turned the clock back to bring in the day’s best score and win the Final  Stage of the PGTI’s Qualifying School for 2020 at the Kensville Golf & Country Club near Ahmedabad on Friday.

The 50-year-old carded a determined 2-under- par 70 to top the leaderboard..

Arjun (75-72-73-70), a winner of 14 titles on the Indian professional circuit and one of the seniormost players in the field this week, finished on a total of 2-over-290.

Overnight leader Deepinder Singh Kullar (71-73-74-73) took second place on 3-over-291 after a final round of 73.

The cut in the final round fell at 16-over-304 with the top 39 players earning their cards for the 2020 Tata Steel PGTI season as four players were tied for 36^th place  at the end of round four.

Cards shared out

The top 39 included three amateurs. There were also from Bangladesh among the 39 who earned their full cards.

The seasoned Arjun Singh, two off the pace in tied second after round three, began the day well with a 15-foot birdie conversion on the first hole.

The Delhi Golf Club professional then picked up two more birdies at the cost of a bogey till the 11^th hole to be two-under for the day.

Arjun hit a rough patch on the 12^th and 13^th with a missed short birdie putt on the former and a dropped shot on the latter.

Exceptional shot

With multiple contenders emerging on the back nine including DLF GCC’s Kullar and Manav Jaini, Arjun managed to get his round back on track with an exceptional second shot from under a tree on the 15^th that set up a three foot birdie conversion.

Singh then made pars on the last three holes to clinch victory.

Arjun said, “I had taken a break from golf last year so I played just six events on the PGTI in 2019.

“When I began the Final Stage, the idea was to shoot four decent rounds in order to get my card back. I didn’t really expect to win as the field here had a lot of good young players.  

“Winning the Qualifying School seems to have injected a fresh lease of life in my game. I now feel rejuvenated and full of confidence ahead of the new season.

‘Good saves’

“I putted well today and made some good par-saves on the front nine. It wasn’t easy negotiating the course and the windy conditions this week.

“You have to think your way around this course. I’m happy that I executed my plans well through the week,” added Arjun, who took away a prize money cheque of Rs. 75,000 for his win. 

Kullar, round three leader by two shots, struck four birdies, three bogeys and a double in his 73 on Friday. Kullar missed a six-foot par putt on the last hole that could have taken the match into a playoff.

Allahabad’s Samarth Dwivedi (70) and Delhi’s Manav Jaini (72) took a share of third place on 4-over-292. Dwivedi’s round of 70 which matched the day’s best, featured four successive birdies on the back nine.

Gurgaon’s Kartik Sharma finished as the best amateur on tied fifth at 6-over-294.

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