Shaurya Bhattacharya receives his trophy and cheque from Chhattisgarh deputy CM Arun Sao (third from right) and PGTI president Kapil Dev (seco from left). Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Shaurya Bhattacharya swept to a five-shot victory in the inaugural edition of the SECL Chhattisgarh Open at New Raipur on Friday with an error-free final round that gave the chasing field no chance.
The Delhi golfer was authoritative in his 6 under par 63 to total 27 under 249 at the Rs 1 crore event presented by Chhattisgarh Tourism at the Fairway Golf & Lake Resort, the PGTI said.
Overnight leader by five shots, Bhattacharya (64-61-61-63) drove home the advantage on Friday to record his second professional win.
The 22-year-old, PGTIs’ Emerging Player of the Year in 2024, dropped just one shot during the tournament and on Friday took home a cheque worth Rs 15 lakh that lifted him from 59th to second in the Tata Steel PGTI Ranking.
Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya (67-62-64-61) had the day’s best score to climb five places and take the runners-up placing on 22 under 254 at the Par-69 course while Sri Lanka’s N. Thangaraja (66-63-62-64) sealed third place on 21 under 255.
Bhattacharya, coached by Guangzhou Asian Games team silver medallist Rahul Bajaj, made a slow start to the day with pars on the first seven holes.
Cashing in
He then picked up the pace by capitalising on the three Par-5s, the eighth, 11th and 13th, making birdies on the first two and an eagle on the third before picking up another sot on 12.
Bhattacharya all but sealed the title with a superb tee shot on the Par-3 hole 17 that landed two feet from the pin and gave him his last birdie of the day.
“It was a solid week for me with just one bogey through the four rounds,” Bhattacharya said later.
“Whenever I was out of position or I missed the green, I recovered well with an up and down. Today it was all about focusing on my breathing and staying in the present.
“I was striking it well through the week so that gave me a lot of confidence at the start of the final day. The plan was to attack the flags on day four since it is a scoring course.
“Gave myself a target of three to four under for the day as I knew that would be good enough to win. I’m glad that I managed to do even better.”
Baisoya made an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey and his Rs 10 lakh cheque took the Delhi golfer from 20th to third place in the Tata Steel PGTI Ranking.
Also read: Shaurya Bhattacharya goes five shots clear at Chhattisgarh Open
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