Brijesh Kumar of Panchkula receives his winner’s cheque and trophy from RCFSA president K S Asla, and PGTI chief executive Amandeep Johl (right). Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Panchkula golfer Brijesh Kumar registered a come-from-behind victory at the PGTI NexGen Kapurthala played at the RCF Golf Course on Thursday.
Kumar saved his best for the last with the day’s best card of 5 under par 67 to win by two shots, the PGTI said.
Brijesh Kumar (68-70-67), overnight tied fourth and four shots off the lead, finished with a winning total of 11 under 205 ahead of Delhi’s Ajay Baisoya.
Brijesh, 25, who missed the cut in the NexGen season-opener Gurgaon last week, picked up a winner’s cheque of Rs 2,54,300 to climb alongside Rajesh Kumar Gautam at the top of the PGTI NexGen Order of Merit.
Baisoya (67-67-73), overnight leader by three shots, returned a 73 on Thursday to end the week on 9 under 207.
Rookie Rohit Narwal (70-67-71) of Karnal secured third place on 8 under 208 after a closing 71.
Kapurthala’s Ashbeer Saini carded a 72 to take sixth place on 4 under 212.
Brijesh, in his third season as a professional, had a strong front nine on Thursday with three birdies including two outstanding recovery shots from the bunkers.
Difficult situation
Kumar, who has an ‘A’ card on the PGTI this season, then worked some magic with his chipping that earned him birdies on 11 and 14. He also extricated himself from a tricky situation on 12 to escape with just a dropped shot.
Brijesh finally sealed it with two long conversions on 16 and 17, one for a par save and the other for a birdie even as Baisoya, leading for much of the day, stumbled with two double-bogeys on the last seven holes.
“My wedge shots have always been my strength and today they were the highlight of my round as I made three good up and downs from the bunker. My putting was also quite sharp,” Brijesh said.
“Interestingly, my roommate this week was Ajay Baisoya and we kept encouraging each other to win when we spoke in the evening after the rounds.
“Today in the morning while travelling to the course I told Ajay that he must win otherwise I will come from behind and win the match.
“I performed well at the PGTI Q School this year to earn an ‘A’ card and then got off to a decent start on the main tour.
“That gave me a lot of confidence coming into the NexGen events. This win will boost my self-belief further.
“I would like to thank Golfoy for all their support and my fellow professionals and seniors Ajay Baisoya, Mani Ram, Ranjit Singh, Ravi Kumar, Harendra Gupta, Rajiv Kumar Jatiwal and Chandarjeet Yadav, for encouraging and inspiring me to perform better all the time.”
Baisoya, who made three birdies in exchange for a bogey till the 11th, slipped thereafter as he dropped two double-bogeys while picking up just one birdie on the last seven holes.
Also read: Wasim Khan leads NexGen event with 6 under 66 at Kapurthala
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