Angad Cheema receives the Coal India Open trophy from Mayank Chandela, representing beverage partner Reliance Consumer Products at Kensville Golf & Country Club in Ahmedabad on Friday. Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
KDGT 2025 winner Angad Cheema made it back to back titles with a four-stroke victory at the Coal India Open in Ahmedabad on Friday.
The lanky Chandigarh golfer picked up from where he had let off before the summer break with the inaugural Rs 1 crore event trophy at Kensville Golf & Country Club, the PGTI said.
Cheema (69-67-69-70) fired a closing 2 under par 70 on Friday for a total of 13 under 275 in his fourth PGTI win.
The 35-year-old took home a cheque worth Rs 15 lakh that lifted him from tenth to second in the PGTI Order of Merit with season’s earnings of Rs 55,56,726.
Noida’s Amardeep Malik (69-65-72-71) secured a solid runner-up finish to climb 27 places to 21st on the PGTI Order of Merit.
Delhi’s Shaurya Bhattacharya (70) and Udayan Mane (71) of Pune shared third place on 7 under 281.
Yuvraj Sandhu (71) of Chandigarh ended the week fifth on 6 under 282 to continue in the lead on the PGTI’s money list with season’s earnings of Rs 58,67,200.
Early break
Cheema started with a one-stroke advantage and built on the lead over the front nine on Friday with four birdies against one dropped shot.
On the back nine, two long birdie conversions from 15 to 25 feet saw him home despite three dropped shots on holes 12 and 17.
“It was a brilliant week as I played well from start to finish and did not make many mistakes,” Cheema said later. “I’d say I just ended up putting better than others.
“I made some long conversions in every round and would like to give credit for my putting this week to my caddie Khushi Ram who gave me the correct lines and speed on the greens.
“It was good fun playing alongside my close friend and roommate Amardeep in the last two rounds.
Good equation
“We share a great equation and thus we enjoyed a lot of light-hearted banter playing in the leader group over the last two days which just eased the atmosphere.
“It feels great to win back-to-back and adds to my determination to play even better going forward,” added Cheema, who ended an 11-year title drought last season.
Malik, who trailed Cheema by a shot after round three, mixed three birdies with four bogeys on the day to slip out of contention.
Delhi-based amateur Rakshit Dahiya won the trophy for the best performance by an amateur after he finished tied 10th at 1 under 287.
Ahmedabad’s Varun Parikh shared 19th place, closing the week with a total of 1 over 289.
Also read: Angad Cheema takes pole position at Coal India Open
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