By Rahul Banerji
Sunhit Bishnoi capped his start-to-finish run with a sterling closing display at the inaugural India Cements Pro Championship for his maiden professional title in Chennai on Saturday.
The 22-year-old DLF Academy trainee fired a closing 8-under par 64 to shred the chasing pack and emerge winner by a massive nine strokes from consistent Bangladesh golfer Jamal Hossain.
Bishnoi (66-68-70-64), in only his second season as a professional, totalled 20-under 268 at the Rs. 50 lakh event in his wire-to-wire run and his 64 matched the tournament low shot by Divyanshu Bajaj on Friday.
Hossain (67-69-71-70) took second place at a distant 11-under 277 while Bangalore’s Trishul Chinnappa posted an outstanding 65 to climb 23 spots and end the week in tied third place.
Chinappa was on 10-under 278 along with Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha (70) and Kolkata’s Bajaj (72), the PGTI said.
Bishnoi dominated the tournament by leading from the start and then maintaining his stranglehold on the leaderboard in round four as well.
Fast start
The Gurgaon golfer, joint leader overnight along with Akshay Sharma, was quick off the blocks on Saturday with an eagle on the par-5 second hole where he landed his second shot 10 feet from the pin.
This was followed by birdies on the next three holes that gave him a commanding seven-shot lead. Bishnoi left himself tap-ins on the third and fourth, finding the flag stick with his tee shot on the latter and chipping-in on the fifth.
A lone bogey on the eight came against the run of play before the 2022 National Games bronze medallist for Haryana, was back to firing on all cylinders with birdies on 10, 11 and 13.
Bishnoi, who has been training at the DLF Golf & Country Club since 2017, signed off with birdie on 18, making him the ninth winner from as many events on the PGTI this year.
His winner’s cheque of Rs. 7.5 lakh took Bishnoi from 25th to ninth place on the Tata Steel PGTI Rankings.
“It feels really good to win in just my second season as a professional,” Bishnoi said. “When you know that your hard work is paying off, it boosts your confidence.
Sounding board
“This win is dedicated to my parents and sister Gaurika who is also a professional golfer. I keep talking to her after my rounds and often take her advice as she has more years of experience as a professional golfer than I do.
“I chipped really well today, made some clutch putts and had my best day with the driver this week. Being five-under on the first five holes helped me calm my nerves and relax.
“It set the tone for the rest of the round. However, I was not keeping track of my score but instead just focusing on the job at hand.
“I had played well at TNGF last year having finished 11th, so that helped me begin this week with a lot of confidence.”
Jamal Hossain sank three birdies and a bogey in round four and was among the many other contenders who couldn’t match the pace set early on by Bishnoi on Saturday.
Jamal’s runner-up finish moved him up from fifth to fourth place in the PGTI’s merit list.
Om Prakash Chouhan, who finished tied 11th on 7-under 281, continues to lead the Order of Merit.
Final top five
268: Sunhit Bishnoi (66-68-70-64)
277: Jamal Hossain (67-69-71-70)
278: Trishul Chinnappa (73-72-68-65); Abhijit Singh Chadha (69-71-68-70); Divyanshu Bajaj (71-71-64-72)
Also read: Bishnoi continues in Cosmo lead, now has Akshay alongside
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