Gaganjeet Bhullar wins second title on the trot

Gaganjeet Bhullar asserted his undisputed class as he shot a six-under 64 on the third and final round to run away with the champion’s cheque of Rs.22.5 lakh in the second IGPL golf tournament at the Jaypee Greens Golf Resort on Friday.

Starting the day five shots behind the overnight leader Kartik Singh, Gaganjeet played close to his best to reach 9-under before the last hole, virtually assured of the title. He had an anticlimactic finish as he three-putted on the 18th, yet emerged a champion by two shots.

“Winning is always pleasing,” said Gaganjeet who was champion last week in Chandigarh in the inaugural event.

“It did go well, but for the last hole,” he said, even as he expressed his admiration for the bunch of youngsters playing strong.

Pukhraj Singh Gill rose to the second place with a six-under 208, two shots ahead of 16-year-old Kartik Singh. The two won Rs.15 lakh and Rs.10.5 lakh respectively.

Amandeep Drall was the best among the women, as she finished tied 11th with I Aalaap, Aryan Anand and Saarthak Chhibber, with one-over 213. They all earned about Rs.2.5 lakh each, from the overall prize purse of Rs.1.5 crore.

Except for the first day when the par was 72, the second and third days were played with par 70.

The scores: 1. Gaganjeet Bhullar (72, 68, 64) 204; 2. Pukhraj Singh Gill (72, 66, 68) 206; 3. Kartik Singh (68, 67, 73) 208; 4T. Syed Saqib Ahmed (74, 67, 68), Karandeep Kochhar (70, 68, 71) 209; 6T. Aman Raj (73, 71, 66), Kartik Sharma (70, 70, 70) 210; 8T. Raghav Chugh (72, 68, 71), Sachin Baisoya (71, 71, 69) 211; 10. Shiv Kapur (73, 68, 71).