An early eagle and a late birdie coupled with smart course management drawn from his experience of almost two decades saw Gaganjeet Bhullar card a 2-under 70 final round and become the first IGPL Invitational champion on Friday. Bhullar, winner of 11 Asian Tour titles, the most by an Indian, and an icon player in the IGPL shot three great rounds of 70-71-70 for a 5-under total and won by two shots over the consistent M Dharma at the Chandigarh Golf Club. “This one is for the history books,” Bhullar remarked after the win.
Bhullar took home a cheque of R. 22.50 lakh from the prize purse of Rs. 1.5 crore. Dharma bagged Rs, 15 lakh and the trio of Veer Ganapathy, Kartik Sharma and Shaurya Binu earned Rs. 8.7 lakh each. Bhullar was challenged hard by Dharma, young Ganapathy and Binu. Dharma shot 70-75-68 to finish sole second and he gave Bhullar a tough fight with a 5-under on the back nine, but his two bogeys on the front nine cost him dearly.
Left-handed debutant Ganapathy (72-72-70), son of former pro and now coach, Rahul Ganapathy, was tied third alongside another southpaw, Kartik Sharma (73-73-68) who produced a 4-under 68, the joint best round of the tournament, and Binu (69-72-73). Binu had held a share of the lead for the first 36 holes. Another young player, Neil Jolly, and the experienced Kapil Kumar were tied for sixth at 1-under for the week as only seven players came under par on a challenging course.
Three players, Dharma, Kartik and Sunhit Bishnoi (75-73-68 for 8th place), produced 68s on a course that was difficult to score following relentless rain. Yet the Chandigarh Golf Club managed to get it in shape for the event. Kartik Singh finished tied ninth alongside Aman Raj, Sanju Kumar, Sachin Baisoya, Harendra Gupta and Pukhraj Singh Gill. Jahanvi Bakshi, making a comeback after two years of injuries, was the top woman finisher with rounds of 73-71-75 and was 19th in a field of 54 that included 38 men pros, 10 women pros and six amateurs. The next IGPL event will be held at the Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida from September 17 to 19.
