By Rahul Banerji
Manu Gandas overcame a final-hole hiccup to successfully defend his Telangana Golconda Masters title by two shots from Yuvraj Singh Sandhu in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Gandas had three-under-par 69 that included a double bogey on his final hole for a four-day aggregate of 23-under 257.
Chandigarh’s Sandhu fired a 65 that include six birdies as he closed in on the leader but the overnight six-shot gap proved too big to surmount.
With his fourth win of the season, Gurgaon-based Gandas (63-60-65-69) moved up one place to second on the PGTI Order of Merit behind Sandhu (64-65-65-65) who also rose one spot.
Manu earned Rs 6 lakh while Yuvraj netted Rs 4 lakh. Both have now won four times this year and while Manu has raked in Rs 50,02,288 so far, Yuvraj is narrowly ahead with earnings of Rs 51,14,768.
Overnight leader by six shots, Gandas was well on course to the title till the penultimate hole having led by four shots over Sandhu.
Manu’s driving, approach shots and chipping earned him five birdies in exchange for two bogeys over 17 holes.
Late fumble
However, he found the bunker with his drive on 18 and then couldn’t get it out of the bunker with his second shot.
Gandas finally landed it just short of the green with his fourth shot and left himself a tricky 12-foot conversion for double-bogey which he converted to seal the result.
After receiving the cheque and trophy depicting the famous Golconda Fort from Telangana sports and youth minister V. Srinivas Goud, Gandas said, “This tournament has a special place for me because this is where my breakthrough win came last year.
“It feels good and quite satisfying to have defended my title.
“It was a steady day for me even though there were some unforced errors including that on the last hole.
“On the final hole, I got a bit greedy and went for the green from the bunker which was not a smart choice in hindsight as I left the ball in the bunker once again.
“I knew that the final putt was make-or-break for me as Yuvraj still had a birdie chance and could’ve easily taken the match into a playoff had I missed the 12-footer.
Clear focus
“For much of the day, I played my own game, one shot at a time and focussed well. I was relieved after the last putt because I hadn’t played very smartly just prior to that and almost thrown it away.
“Being focussed comes to me naturally since the very start of my career. I feel that is one of my strengths and it helped me today as well.”
Sandhu posted six birdies and a bogey for the day’s best score of 65 to continue his consistent run this season.
Bangalore’s Syed Saqib Ahmed (70) was third on 13-under 267.
The Chandigarh duo of Jairaj Singh Sandhu (12-under 268) and Angad Cheema (11-under 269) finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Seventeen-year-old Milind Soni of Hyderabad won the trophy for the best performing amateur as he claimed tied 17th place at five-under 275.
Hyderabad-based professionals Mohd Azhar and Hardik Chawda were alongside Soni.
Also read: Gandas makes most of Moving Day at Golconda Masters
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