By Rahul Banerji
Gaganjeet Bhullar left it very late, sinking a birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational for the first time at the Chandigarh Golf Club on Sunday.
The Kapurthala golfer was tied with local lad Karandeep Kochhar till the 17th but a nerveless 13-footer to finish handed Bhullar (69-65-68-71) the champion’s cheque.
Winner of the event in 2020, Kochhar (65-70-68-71) was on top of his game as well to take the issue as deep as he did at the Rs 1.5 crore event presented by TAKE.
The final scores were 15-under par 273 for the winner and 274 for Chandigarh’s Kochhar.
Bangalore’s Chikkarangappa S. (65-71-67-72), winner in 2018 and Chandigarh’s Akshay Sharma (69-68-71-67) shared third place on 13-under 275.
Bhullar started in rocky fashion, bogeying twice on the front nine as the birdies remained elusive.
Two early birdies on the back nine, however, earned Bhullar some breathing space but he would drop another shot with a missed short putt.
Bouncing back
It was a short-lived setback as the 10-time Asian Tour winner — including the (Indonesia Open earlier this year — bounced back immediately with his third birdie in four holes.
This time, Bhullar did not let the advantage go.
The 18th-hole birdie also meant that for the first time in its short history, the tournament did not need a playoff to decide the eventual champion.
“I played my back nine like a champion today,” the elated Bhullar said later.
“I did have a shaky start, but kept telling myself to not go for the result and play one shot at a time. That worked things out my way.
“The birdie on 11, my first today was probably the turning point in my round. My second birdie on 16 got me motivated for the final two holes.
“I was able to visualise the shots needed on the final hole and that’s why sinking in the 12-footer on 18 was not difficult,” Bhullar added.
It was still touch-and-go till the end as Kochhar too was in a position to pick up a shot but missed his birdie putt to finish runner-up for the second time after 2018.
Moving up
Karandeep who too shot a 71 on Sunday made three birdies against two bogeys and the result moved him up six places to fourth on the Tata Steel PGTI Order of Merit.
Chikka’s level par 72 on the day helped him to tied third with Sharma who raced his way up with a five-under 67 in his final round.
Om Prakash Chouhan who shot the day’s best round of six-under 66 was tied fifth with Bangladesh golfer Jamal Hossain and Delhi’s Shamim Khan on 12-under 276.
Japan Tour regular Rahil Gangjee was eighth on 11-under 277, while Chandigarh’s Amrit Lal and Abhijit Singh Chadha along with Delhi’s Rashid Khan and Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi were T9 on 10-under 278.
Udayan Mane was T13 on nine-under 279, Jyoti Randhawa finished T20 on six-under 282, and former winner Ajeetesh Sandhu of Chandigarh T28 on four-under 284.
Sandhu continues to lead the Order of Merit going into the Pune Open at Poona Club Golf Course from October 19 to 22.
Also read: Bhullar leads after penultimate round of Jeev Milkha Invitational
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