Sachin Baisoya on his way to victory in the Rajasthan Tourism presents Jaipur Open in a first career playoff against fellow Delhi golfer Rashid Khan at the Rambagh course on Saturday. Image courtesy PGTI/X.
By Rahul Banerji
Sachin Baisoya turned up the heat on a blistering back nine to track down fellow Delhi professional Rashid Khan before surviving a marathon, five-hole playoff to win the Jaipur Open on Saturday.
Baisoya fired five birdies over the closing nine holes of the Rs 1 crore event presented by Rajasthan Tourism to haul chip away at Khan’s three-stroke lead as the Delhi duo finished level on 22 under par 258 at the Par-70 Rambagh Golf Club.
Both Baisoya (65-65-64-64) and Khan (64-68-61-65) then halved the par-5 18 four times before the former nailed his tee shot on the par-2 second hole, landing within three feet to convert for a decisive birdie.
Khan sent his tee shot into the bunker and having survived thrice in the playoff and once in regulation, found no escape route on the fifth knockout hole, sinking a par putt that was not good enough to stop Baisoya.
It was the 29-year-old Baisoya’s first playoff and extended Khan’s lop-sided record to six elimination defeats in eight playoff attempts. It was Baisoya’s third tour title and earned him Rs 15 lakh for the top spot, the PGTI said.
It also carried the winner into fifth place from sixth in the Tata Steel PGTI Rankings race with three events to go in the ongoing season.
Chandigarh’s Akshay Sharma (67), Hyderabad’s Milind Soni (69) and Delhi’s Kshitij Naveed Kaul (70) took tied third place on 16-under 264s while Jaipur pro Prakhar Asawa was tied 43rd on 3 under 277.
Sterling run
Starting from joint third place overnight two strokes behind 54-hile leader Arjun Prasad, Baisoya struck the last day’s joint best score of 64 to get into the playoff.
Baisoya launched his run with an eagle 3 on the par-5 eighth hole after a steady start and then went on to add five birdies against one bogey after the turn with some classy hitting a short-range play.
With Prasad going into meltdown mode, Khan was quickly into the lead which changed on the first hole itself and looked like running away with the honours and his 15th career title.
But Baisoya was dogged, clawing away at the leader’s advantage that had stretched to three holes at one point, and finally drew level with successive birdies on hole 17 and 18, including a mammoth 35-feet birdie conversion on the 72nd and final regulation hole.
For his part, Rashid who was second overnight one behind Prasad, mixed six birdies with a bogey in his 65 on Friday. He found water on the 18th but made a sensational recovery with an up and down to save par and force the playoff.
On the first four playoff holes, all played on the par-5 18th, both players matched each other shot for shot including a 35-footer for par by Rashid on the first extra hole.
Dead accurate
The action then moved to the par-3 second hole where despite an exceptional bunker shot, Khan could do nothing to deny Baisoya who had nailed his tee shot.
“My strategy from the start of the last round was to just enjoy myself and give it my best,” Baisoya said.
“After a slow start, the eagle on the eighth was a huge confidence booster. That set the tone for the rest of my round.
Rashid Khan pulled off four great escapes before succumbing on the fifth playoff hole to Sachin Baisoya. Image courtesy PGTI/X.
“On the 18th in regulation play, I told myself that I have just one putt to make if I want to stand a chance of winning and I made that birdie putt from 35-feet.
“I was quite confident all through the playoff as my game plan was to find the fairway and green and make birdie, if possible, otherwise continue making par and stretching the playoff which would pile the pressure on Rashid too.
“After Rashid found the bunker on the final playoff hole, I knew hitting the green would be a huge advantage and executed my tee shot perfectly, just as I had visualised it.
Friendly banter
“I’m delighted to win the first-ever playoff I have been involved in. Rashid and myself are good friends so we indulge in a lot of friendly banter when playing together. That kept the atmosphere light through the day.
“I would like to thank the seasoned Mukesh Kumar, who I refer to as Guruji, for his valuable advice and encouragement to me over the last two days. He told me I’ll win if I shoot a 7 under and it’ll be a playoff if I shoot a 6 under on the final day.
“That’s exactly how it turned out.”
The five-hole playoff encounter fell just short of equaling the PGTI record of six holes played in a playoff between Aadil Bedi (winner) and Udayan Mane back in 2020 at Tollygunge Club in Kolkata.
Arjun Prasad, the leader for the first three rounds, carded a 76 on day four to finish tied 14th at on under 268.
Sukhraj Singh Gill, who fired a hole-in-one on the 11th hole in round two on Thursday, won himself Nissan’s recently updated New Magnite for his effort.
Sukhraj received the keys of the New Nissan Magnite from Rajesh Srivastava, Head, Marketing Communications, Nissan India, during the tournament’s prize distribution ceremony on Saturday.
Also read: Prasad stays in front on day three in Jaipur as Khan closes in
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