Sweden’s Joakim Haeggman celebrates with his HSBC India Legends Championship trophy at the Jaypee Greens Golf Course on Sunday. Image courtesy Legends Tour.
By Rahul Banerji
Tournament host Jeev Milkha Singh endured a disappointing final day of the $500,000 HSBC India Legends Championship to finished in a tie for third place at the Jaypee Greens Golf Course here on Sunday.
Sweden’s Joakim Haeggman completed a wire-to-wire run at the first Legends Tour event to be played in India, wrapping up a two-stroke win over England’s Andrew Marshall who blitzed the course with a 7 under par 65.
Haeggman followed rounds of 65 and 70 with a level par 72 for a 9 under aggregate 207, his final day card studded with three birdies and three bogeys and summed it up as a “fantastic week for me, brilliant”.
The result lifted Haeggman from 12th to fifth on the Legends Tour, Jeev gained nine places to 19th and Randhawa rose two spots from his 27th of last week.
Leading Jeev by four strokes, Haeggman dropped shots on holes 14 and 15, the first with a three-putt and then getting too ambitious on the par-5 15th to inject some excitement into the proceedings with Marshall having set the clubhouse target by then.
“In the end, it got really exciting, more exciting than it needed to be. Having had a nice five-shot lead, Andrew Marshall posted a score, I could see that.
Solid play
“But again, I played well, hit some really nice shots in really close at times. Hitting eight irons, seven irons to less than three or four feet and just being able to convert to some simple birdies as well.
“It is not easy out here and especially with the heat it’s difficult to stay on it and focus and do the right thing all the time. I had one mistake today and that got Jeev and the boys back into the tournament. I’m really happy that I managed to keep it going.”
Added Marshall, “I played lovely the first day as well so 1-over was disappointing and then yesterday played great but didn’t hole many putts.
“I went 1-under, was happy with that and thought, right, birdie the par 5s today and maybe a couple of others and you could shoot 6, 7, 8, 9 under and give Jeev and Jyoti and Haeggman a scare.
“I want to thank my caddy, Rakesh, he helped me a lot. First two days didn’t really trust him and because of that I hit it a bit soft or too hard. And today I trusted his judgment and it paid off.”
Failed gambit
In the final group alongside Jyoti Randhawa and Haeggman, Jeev was two shots behind the Swede after 17 holes and decided to attack only to end with a triple-bogey 7.
The gave him a 4 over par 76 for the day and 4 under 212 for the tournament in shared third with Thomas Gogele of Germany.
Jeev’s gamble of trying to mount pressure on the leader may not have paid off but did not damage his final standing too much even after first finding water off the tee and then blasting his third shot on to the 10th tee box.
A chip back to the 18th green area and another to get on the putting surface meant the 52-year-old was already over par, and a two-putt finish helped limit the damage and a drop of one place from second on the leaderboard.
“Honestly, being a host of the first Legends Tour tournament in India, I think all the players are very happy and they’re going to take back good memories,” Jeev said later.
“I think I’ve done a good job with that and would like to congratulate Joakin Haeggman. I’ve known him for years. Well done to him, he played beautifully today.”
Randhawa (68-72-74) was the next best of the Indian contenders in tied ninth place on 2 under 214.
Late run
The wily Mukesh Kumar scripted a final 2 under 70 and take a share of 15th place with Sweden’s Patrick Sjoland after earlier cards of 73 and 71 at the Legends Tour event co-sanctioned by the Professional Golf Tuur of India.
PGTI board member Amandeep Johl had a closing 1 over 73 to aggregate 219 for the event and a tied 22nd placing, while Vishal Singh, Digvijay Singh, Vijay Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, and Harmeet Kahlon were further down the leaderboard.
Mukesh had the day’s best round by an Indian, putting three birdies on his card against one dropped shot.
“It has been more than 10 years since I last played here but I enjoyed myself. The greens were a little difficult to understand for the first two days but after that I was able to adjust,” he said later.
“I’m 60 now and don’t have a regular schedule on the PGTI also, so I was definitely satisfied with my performance of 2 under 214 after three rounds. Today I was able to play to my plan and it was good to get a under par total for the tournament.”
Mukesh said he was now looking forward to playing a senior tour at home. “We have made a committee with Amandeep Johl, Digvijay Singh and Vijay Kumar to go into this and want to start the tour by October or November.
“Both Jeev and Jyoti who are playing this senior European Tour have also been very encouraging and Jeev has told us to go ahead with our plans and not to worry about sponsors and sponsorships so I am looking forward to the senior tour with the help and support of the PGTI.”
Also read: Jeev on Haeggman’s heels at HSBC India Legends Championship
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