UP Prometheans captain Shaurya Bhattacharya is a happy man at the way his team have progressed through the first three rounds of the DP World PGTI’s 72 The League.
By Rahul Banerji
Front-runners Rajasthan Regals and UP Prometheans returned clean sheets in round three of the DP World PGTI 72 The League on Thursday to open up a solid lead in the standings.
Both teams swept their opponents at the Jaypee Greens in the event powered by IndusInd Bank and are tied at the top of the table with 32 points apiece, nine clear of third placed Naya Raipur.
UP and Rajasthan started the day on 17 points and then added the maximum possible 15 from Thursday’s outing.
The Prometheans whitewashed Kolkata Classics 15-0, while Regals produced a similar result against Mumbai Aces.
In the day’s third matchup, Raipur got the better of Hyderabad’s Charminar Champions 9-6 to keep their final hopes alive.
Interestingly, all 15 matches on Thursday produced a result with not a single match being halved.
UP captain Shaurya Bhattacharya, who paired with Himmat Rai to beat Khalin Joshi and Ajay Baisoya 4&3 in the fourballs, said: “It was a really good day.
Leader’s delight
“I was happy with the way I played personally and with the pairing I had with Himmat. And I was delighted with how the rest of our team played.
“We were all square after 10 holes, after leading through the turn.
“Then Himmat made a clutch putt on the 11th hole for a birdie from 12 feet for a half, and we felt that changed the momentum completely towards our side.
“Today was very important for us. We felt like we could capitalise and get as many points as possible.
“And now we are in a comfortable position, but we are all looking forward to the next two rounds.”
The Prometheans face the Regals in the final league round.
“We have a couple of strong teams in the final two matches – Raipur and UP,” said Rajasthan’s Dhruv Sheoran, who took down Aces captain Veer Ahlawat 2&1.
“We have given our best over the first three rounds, and we understand that while that can give us a day like today, it can also give us a day like yesterday, when we lost in the second round.”
Pace-setter
Sheoran’s win set the tone for the Regals, which included a 8&6 win for captain Ajeetesh Sandhu and Michele Ortolani over Mumbai’s Aniket Sawant and Declan Kenny.
“I am a very good friend of Veer and I admire his game. He is a very strong driver of the golf ball and he has a very good short game,” added Sheoran.
“I’d be lying if I said I was not nervous about our match. But I backed myself on the range and just wanted to stick to the game plan and back myself.
“And then it was nice to play with Veer as we kept laughing and talking through the round.”
“In this competition, every player in the team has to play minimum one match in each format. That is a challenge to figure out who can play how many matches.
Dhruv Sheoran of the Rajasthan Regals took down his good friend and Mumbai Aces captain Veer Ahlawat 2&1 in their round 3 singles matchup at Jaypee Greens on Thursday.
Due diligence
“There’s a lot of planning which goes in because you want to put your best foot forward.
“We give the planning its due diligence, but after that, we just forget all about it and we help each other out.”
Chikkarangappa S. and Sheoran (Rajasthan), Abhinav Lohan (UP) and Anant Singh Ahlawat (Raipur) have won all their matches across the three rounds.
The fourth round of the league will be played on Monday, March 2 at the Classic Golf & Country Club near Manesar.
Charminar Champions take on bottom-placed Kolkata Classic, Rajasthan Regals face Nava Raipur and Mumbai Aces take on UP Prometheans.
League standings after the 3rd round
Rajasthan Regals – 32 points
UP Prometheans – 32 points
Nava Raipur – 23 points*
Charminar Champions – 21 points
Mumbai Aces – 11 points*
Kolkata Classics – 7 points
(* denotes unfinished first round fourball match, result to be determined on Monday)
Round 3 results
Rajasthan Regals v Mumbai Aces 15–0
Singles: Dhruv Sheoran btVeer Ahlawat 2&1; Yuvraj Singh btDivyanshu Bajaj 2&1
Foursomes: Ajeetesh Sandhu/Michele Ortolani bt Aniket Sawant/Declan Kenny 8&6
Fourballs: Akshay Sharma/Jairaj Singh Sandhu bt Kartik Singh/Jamal Hossain 2&1; Chikkarangappa S./Ayaan Gupta btSaptak Talwar/Kushal Singh 3&2
UP Prometheans vs Kolkata Classics 15–0
Singles: Pranav Mardikar btKaran Verma 6&4; Manoj S. btAngad Cheema 2-up
Foursomes: Arjun Sharma/Bikramjeet Singh Sandhu bt Viraj Madappa/Aryav Shah 5&3
Fourballs: Abhinav Lohan/Arjun Prasad btRashid Khan/Mithun Perera 3&2; Shaurya Bhattacharya/Himmat Rai bt Khalin Joshi/Ajay Baisoya 4&3
Charminar Champions vs Naya Raipur 6-9
Singles: Marvin Kibirige btStepan Danek 3&1; Sydney Joseph Wembalost to Anant Singh Ahlawat 4&2
Foursomes: Vishesh Sharma/Anshul Kabthiyallost to Rohan Dhole Patil/Joysurjo Dey 4&3
Fourballs: Shubham Jaglan/Dominic Piccirillolost to Jhared Hack/Honey Baisoya 4&3; Manu Gandas/Om Prakash Chouhan beatAmardeep Singh Malik/Mohd Azhar 3&2
Also read: Two-way tie for 72 The League lead after day 2 at Jaypee Greens
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