Singh takes Q School honours as 41 earn PGTI full cards

By Rahul Banerji

Gurgaon’s Priyanshu Singh led 41 players into the Professional Golf Tour of India’s (PGTI) 2019 season, topping the Final Qualifying Stage by six shots at the Kensville Golf & Country Club near Ahmedabad on Thursday.

After four rounds Priyanshu (72-70-70-70) had a total of six-uunder-282. The 22-year-old signed off with a third successive two-under-70 in the final round while Delhi’s Wasim Khan (74-71-71-72), last year’s PGTI Q School champion, finished second at even-par-288 after a final round of level-par-72.

The top 41 players earned their cards for the 2019 PGTI season as the cut in the final round fell at 17-over-305. Among the three tied in 41^st, Arjun Singh Chaudhri of Noida made the grade based on the fourth rounds’ scores.

The top 41 included six amateurs. There were also five overseas players among the 41 who earned their full cards including three from Bangladesh, one from Nepal and one American.

Poor start

Singh, who enjoyed a four-shot lead coming into the final round, had a terrible start as he traded a birdie with three bogeys on the front nine as he missed some short conversions.

But Singh, who played college golf at the University of South Florida in the US prior to turning professional last year, rebounded with four birdies in his back nine.

He hit a superb nine-iron second shot from 150 yards on the 10^th that almost found the hole and led to a tap-in birdie. Singh also sank birdie putts from a range of 15 to 20 feet on the 12^th and 15^th holes.

Priyanshu said, “It’s just been an exceptional and memorable two weeks for me. In the PGTI Final Stage, I was just feeding off the confidence from my victory in Pre Qualifying II. I’m now extremely excited about playing on a tour that will have world ranking points. That will really motivate me to work harder.

‘Patience paid’

“I didn’t enjoy a good start on any of the four days of the Final Stage. But, importantly, I knew that the Kensville course required a lot of patience, so I hung in there. I took everything as it came.

“I’m now excited about following in the footsteps of my peers and former India teammates such as Viraj Madappa, Karandeep Kochhar and Aman Raj, who have inspired me with their achievements at the professional level,” added Singh, who has played on the Indian team at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.  

Runner-up Wasim Khan had four birdies against four bogeys during his final round.

Seventeen-year-old Chandigarh lad Aadil Bedi (73), who recently earned his Asian Tour card, took a share of third place along with Bangladesh’s Md Dulal Hossain (73) and Mumbai’s Anil Bajrang Mane (75).

The lone amateur who finished inside the top-10 was Noida’s Hari Mohan Singh, carding a nine-over 297 for 10^th place.

Sandhu, Shiv Kapur open well

In Singapore, Ajeetesh Sandhu (70) and Shiv Kapur (71) had the best scores among Indian in the field on a truncated opening day of the $1 million SMBC Singapore Open, the season-opening event of the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO).

Arjun Atwal, who won in Singapore in 2002, was three-under through 11 holes and will be among the 78 players who will come back in the morning to complete the first round.

Rahil Gangjee, Om Prakash Chouhan and Khalin Joshi were five-over 76 in the first round, while Jeev Milkha Singh, a winner in 2008, was five-over through 11 holes. S. Chikkarangappa had played six holes and was level par, while Viraj Madappa was one-over through eight.

Chinese Taipei’s Hung Chien-yao carded a five-under-par 66 to snatch the first round clubhouse lead on Thursday.

Neha Tripathi fires 66 for six-shot in Pune

In Pune, Neha Tripathi produced a fluent five-under 66 in the second round to make up for her lapses of the first round of the opening leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour on Thursday. Neha had six birdies with just one blemish overtake Diksha Dagar (70-76) and post a massive six-shot lead after 36 holes.

Neha, who shot 74 in the first round is now two-under par 140 for two rounds. While Diksha is second at four-over 146, amateur Pranavi Urs (73-74) is third and Amandeep Drall (77-72) fourth.

Millie Saroha, who was second after the first round, had a forgettable day with nine bogeys, a double and no birdies in a card of 82 that saw her slip to tied eighth.

Neha, who is often seen as not having done justice to her potential, had shot the Women’s Tour’s best-ever score of 10-under 62 at the Classic Golf Resort last year. On Thursday, she was in a similar aggressive mood in the second round.

She started with five pars and then racked up three birdies to turn in three-under. On the back nine, she had three birdies but dropped a shot to sign off with her 66.

Diksha was off-colour and had just one birdie against a rash of dropped shots while Pranavi had two four bogeys and a double but managed to limit the damage with one birdie to be sole third, one shot behind Diksha.

Amandeep Drall had three birdies and four bogeys in her 72 for T4. Siddhi Kapoor (75-75) was fifth, Khushi Khanijau (75-77) sixth while Afshan Fatima (78-75) was seventh. Gursimar Badwal (78-76) was T8 with Millie Saroha (72-82) and Ananya Datar (79-76) was 10th.

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