Sandhu ends five-year wait for title with thumping DGC win

Ajeetesh Sandhu receives his trophy from Vishwa Samudra Holdings executive director Shivdutt Das at the Delhi Golf Club on Friday. Also in the frame are PGTI CEO Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO-designate Amandeep Johl and others. Image courtesy PGTI.

By Rahul Banerji

Ajeetesh Sandhu chalked up a runaway five-stroke victory at the inaugural Rs 2 crore Vishwa Samudra Open at the Delhi Golf Club on Friday. It was his first title in five years, and the first at the historic DGC.

The Chandigarh golfer fired a confident 1 under par 71 over the closing 18 holes to total 12 under 276 for the week, with Jamal Hossain taking second place on 7 under 281, the PGTI said.

With his seventh professional title, Sandhu (69-67-69-71) took home an impressive prize money cheque of Rs 30 lakh at the Kapil Dev presented tournament.

Hossain (67-73-67-74) finished a distant second with a final round of 2 over 74 that posed no threat at any stage for Sandhu. It was still worth Rs 20 lakh for the Dhaka golfer and took him from 17^th to sixth in the Tata Steel PGTI Ranking.

An international winner too, overnight leader Sandhu negotiated the windiest day of the week and tricky pin positions with aplomb, finding a majority of fairways and greens on Friday.

In all, just eight players in the field numbering international winners Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia, Rahil Gangjee and Rashid Khan and domestic titlists like Veer Ahlawat, Sachin and Honey Baisoya and Varun Parikh to name a few, were par or better

Changed fortunes

Sandhu, 36, who has flirted with victory at the DGC in the past, made no mistakes this time with a solitary birdie and pars on the remaining 17 holes.

Sandhu, who was followed on the course by his wife and leading Indian lady professional Tvesa Malik, also made a couple of good par saves with quality chip-putts to keep a clean card.

“I was not expecting it to be so windy today, so my gameplan changed throughout the day,” Sandhu said later.

“It was a tough day with the greens firming up, so the focus was on executing well and hitting all fairways and greens.

“Once you’re leading here at DGC you have to put your head down and grind it out. I got lucky with the weather as I didn’t have to push too much as the others had to do all the hard work to catch up with me.

“I did not have many birdie chances because the flags were tucked in. But I felt good about my game after hitting a few nice shots in the wind.

“I knew if I made par on 13 from a tough position then the birdie opportunities would open up for me thereafter. That’s exactly what happened with the birdie on 14. That was a crucial point in the day.

Special win

“It’s very special to win here at the DGC, one of the best golfing venues in the country with so much history. I’ve seen the greats of Indian golf win here, so I too wanted to win here. It’s one of my favourite courses.

“It’s been a tough year on the international stage for me. It’s the tough times when you rely on people who are close to you and I’m fortunate that those close to me understand the highs and lows of the game. I thank my family for their support.”

Starting two shots in arrears, Hossain kept pace with Sandhu till the fifth making pars all the way. However, a double-bogey on the sixth where his approach shot found the bushes, saw him concede a four-shot lead to Sandhu.

Hossain was unable to bridge the gap thereafter as he could only manage two birdies and two bogeys.

Yuvraj Sandhu of Chandigarh, the only player other than Ajeetesh to shoot four sub-par rounds during the week, finished third on 5 under 283 with a fourth round 70.

Rashid Khan and Dharma shared fourth place on 4 under 284 while Chawrasia was sixth on 1 under 287.

Local lad Sachin Baisoya fired the last day’s best of 67 to end tied seventh on level par 288 along with Yashas Chandra M. of Mysore.

Also read: Sandhu in the van as Hossain rebounds at Vishwa Samudra Open