International Series India winner Ollie Schniederjans of the US in action at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Sunday. Image courtesy Asian Tour.
By Rahul Banerji
Ollie Schniederjans completed a remarkable comeback story at International Series India presented by DLF, winning on his series debut in Gurgaon on Sunday before a packed house.
The American shot a 3 under-par 69 for a four-round aggregate of 10 under 278 at the challenging DLF Golf and Country Club to beat US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau by four strokes.
The two-time major winner fired a closing 7 under 65, but it wasn’t enough to cancel out an eight-shot gap that Schniederjans had built up going into the final round, and he finished on 6 under for the week.
“It means a lot to me,” said the 31-year-old Schniederjans later.
“This golf course is very challenging, and back in the day I would have had a hard time out here, so to come out and shoot those scores now, with everything I have been through, my game is a lot better than it ever was. This was proof this week.”
Anirban Lahiri sealed a top-10 placing at an event he had worked hard to set up along with his Crushers GC captain DeChambeau.
Lahiri, who had an difficult third round of 79 that was completed on Sunday morning, produced his best card of the week in the final round.
The India star picked up shots early on to total 4 under 68 after cards of 72, 71 and 79 in his first three rounds to total 2 over 290 and in a share of 10th place.
“The thing I like the most this week was my attitude,” Lahiri said later.
Draining effort
“Even though we played 27 holes on the final day, I am feeling emotionally drained rather than physically. It’s really been a wildly successful week. I knew it would be a great tournament, but what transpired was beyond what I expected.
“Good to know that I am the best Indian in the tournament. I would dearly have loved to be hoisting the trophy, but this is very encouraging and I am looking forward to LIV Golf Riyadh next week”, he added.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, an 11-time Asian Tour winner was next best at tied 24th on 7 over 295, two ahead of Karandeep Kochhar (9 over) and Yuvraj Sandhu on 11 over.
Amateur star Kartik Singh, who at aged 15 became the youngest Indian to make the cut on the Asian Tour, signed off with a 75 to finish T53, just behind Shubhankar Sharma and two-time Indian Open winner S.S.P. Chawrasia.
Shiv Kapur, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Rahil Gangjee were the other Indian players to finish the weekend after making the cut.
Abraham Ancer of the Fireballs was joint third on 2 under 286 after a level-par final round, alongside reigning International Series Rankings champion Joaquin Niemann, with only four players finishing under par on the testing Gary Player-designed course.
Bustling start
The third round had to be completed on Sunday morning, and Schniederjans started well to open a three-shot lead. The field had nine holes to finish after a first shotgun start on Saturday afternoon, and the American birdied his first three holes – 10, 11 and 12 – enroute to a 69.
Japan’s Kazuki Higa (72) had started the final round in second place on four under, but ultimately fell away to T5 on level par after a four-over final round of 76.
The backlog was the result of long delays every day caused by thick fog each morning. In order to complete 72 holes, the organisers switched to shotgun starts for rounds three and four, with players staying in the same pairings.
They started round four immediately after completion of round three and Schniederjans did not let up in pursuit of a morale-boosting victory, with Australian Greg Norman walking the course and watching intently.
Despite a bogey on 17, the American safely made par on 18 to see things out, narrowly missing out on a birdie chip in from the fringe of the green.
Schniederjans’ win is a remarkable one. He had replacement surgery on both hips in 2022 and was out of the game for well over a year.
It was his final attempt to fix a whole host of injury issues which had derailed the career of a player who was ranked the world’s top amateur in 2014 for 41 consecutive weeks. He also won on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016, the year after turning professional.
Schniederjans played this week by finishing fourth at last year’s LIV Golf Promotions event, with the top-10 players earning playing rights for The International Series.
He just missed out on winning at Riyadh that would have sealed passage into the LIV Golf League, but with Sunday’s result and a $360,000 paycheque, he has made the ideal start to The International Series Rankings race, with the champion also earning a berth on the roster.
Long road back
Speaking out about his long journey back to victory, he said: “It was a long process, it took a lot of patience. I did a lot to change my body and swing, and had to learn a lot through that process.
“There were setbacks that took me years to get to this point. This year has been good, I have been able to be on the course all year for a year now. I’ve been able to put everything together, and I knew something like this was coming.”
DeChambeau did all he could to catch his compatriot.
“Yeah, I scored really well and made a lot of great putts. Got off to a hot start on 18… I am pleased with how I performed and played but not pleased with how I struck the ball.
“I don’t know what happened so I have to figure it out for LIV Golf Riyadh this coming week.”
Also read: Neimann stays in the van as Kartik Singh scripts a bit of history
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