Veer Ahlawat receives the Tour Championship trophy and cheque from Tata Steel CEO and MD T.V. Narendran, (second from left). Also on the dais is Jamshedpur Golf captain D.B. Sundara Ramam, PGTI CEO Uttam Singh Mundy (far left) and CEO-designate Amandeep Johl. Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Order of Merit topper Veer Ahlawat made it a memorable double on the final day of the Tata Steel Tour Championship, winning the season-ender and sealing his DP World Tour card for 2025.
The 28-year-old Gurgaon golfer shot a day’s best of 7 under par 64 and then gritted it out in a playoff over Noida GC’s Amardip Malik to claim the season’s richest purse and putt the final touch on his rankings triumph in Jamshedpur on Sunday.
Both Ahlawat (67-68-68-64) and Malik (67-64-71-65) finished level on 17 under 267 for the Rs 3 crore tournament and it needed two playoff holes before the former made sure of winning the Rs 45 lakh top prize, the PGTI said.
Sri Lanka’s N. Thangaraja (67) took a spirited third place on 16 under 268 while Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu (67) and two-time Tour Championship winner Udayan Mane (70) of Pune tied for fourth on 14-under 270.
Defending champion and two-time event winner Gaganjeet Bhullar (69) was ninth on 10 under 274.
Ahlawat’s cheque on Sunday took his season’s earnings to a massive Rs 1,56,35,724 to smash the previous PGTI record of Rs 1,18,26,059 set last year by Om Prakash Chouhan.
The DLF GCC-based Ahlawat won twice in 2024 and had seven other top-10s. But it was his runner-up finish at the co-sanctioned Hero Indian Open that helped him open a healthy gap in the money list and become the second to earn in excess of a crore after Chouhan did so last year.
Rahil Gangjee was a distant second on the PGTI Ranking with season’s earnings of Rs 69.21 lakh and the Bangalore-based golfer took eighth place at Jamshedpur with an 11 under 273.
The field played alternately on the Golmuri and Beldih courses for all four rounds, with the latter hosting the final nine holes of the par 71 round.
Fast start
Tied for sixth place overnight and four shots off the lead, the towering Ahlawat came out firing on the front nine, picking up an eagle and two birdies before the turn.
After a dropped shot on hole 11, Ahlawat got his challenge back on track with four birdies, landing the ball to around 10 feet from the pins.
Malik, who went bogey-free led for much of the day knocked in five birdies on the front nine. The two-time PGTI winner slowed up on the back nine with just one birdie but managed to kept out the errors.
When the playoff began on hole 18, Malik had the better record having won once from two occasions while Ahlawat had lost both his previous playoffs.
On the first playoff hole, Malik saw his birdie putt lip out from 20 feet that could have possibly sealed the result.
On the second hole, Malik hit over the green and missed the chip-putt for par while Ahlawat converted his par opportunity for a fourth professional title. Malik’s finish was worth Rs 30 lakh and took him from 23rd to sixth on the PGTI Order of Merit.
Ahlawat said, later “At the start of the round, I knew I had to go really low. So, I was looking to score on all the par-5s and the short par-4s.
High confidence
“I had also been hitting my wedges well from the fairways all week. That added to my confidence as all the work on my wedge play paid off today.
“In the playoff, I used one of my favoured clubs, the gap wedge, to perfection. I also felt I had an advantage in the playoff because the 18th hole suited my game since I hit a lot of fades and it is tailor-made for the fade shot.
“My family, including my parents and my wife, gave me a pleasant surprise by landing up in Jamshedpur yesterday. Their presence on the course today was a huge encouragement for me to do well. I’m glad I didn’t disappoint them.
“It’s been a great season for me and I’m very happy about my consistent showing. Winning the PGTI Order of Merit was a major goal and I’m delighted to have achieved that.
“I’m now eagerly looking forward to playing on the DP World Tour in 2025. I’m working on a few things to prepare myself well for the different conditions in Europe.”
Jamshedpur-based professionals Karan Taunk (4 over 288) and Kurush Heerjee (10 over 294) finished tied 47th and tied 54th respectively.
Bhattacharya is Emerging Player
Twenty-one-year-old rookie Shaurya Bhattacharya won the PGTI Emerging Player of the Year title with season earnings of Rs 23.14 lakh, highest among the debutants.
The Delhi golfer who finished tied 45th on 3 over 287 on Sunday was a creditable 28th on the money list with one win and four other top 20s.
Also read: Yashas Chandra rises to the top on day 3 of Tour Championship
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