Mewat, Haryana, October 9, 2015: Chandigarh ’s Abhijit Singh Chadha bagged his
second professional title after he cantered home to a five-stroke win at the
BILT Open 2015. Chadha brought in a card of three-under-69 in the final round
on Friday to end the week with a total of 16-under-272 at the Classic Golf
& Country Club. Ajeetesh Sandhu, another Chandigarh golfer, who shot the day’s best of
six-under-66, finished tied second along with Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow at
11-under-277 at the Rs. 1 crore event.
Chadha pocketed a cheque worth Rs. 15 lakh for his win this
week that helped him climb from 30th place to number one position in the
Rolex Rankings. He now has total earnings of Rs. 17,91,165 for the 2015 PGTI
season. Veteran Mukesh Kumar of Mhow is placed second at Rs. 17,40,350.
Abhijit Singh Chadha (68-70-65-69), the overnight leader by
two shots, strung together five birdies and two bogeys in round four to take
home his first piece of silverware in over three years. The 24-year-old Abhijit
had a quiet but steady front-nine as he made pars on the first eight holes.
Chadha, well clear of the rest of the field over the first eight, began to
gather steam with birdies on the ninth and 10th where he hit a couple of
outstanding approach shots.
Abhijit, who won his last title on the PGTI in 2012 in
Nepal, started pulling away from the rest as he produced some top-class
chip-putt birdies on the 12th, 14th and 15th. The three-putt bogey on the
13th came against the run of play. He then went on to register a
comfortable win despite a closing bogey on the 18th.
“I felt quite relaxed out there today. I didn’t feel too
much pressure. I had a steady start as I hit most of the greens on the
front-nine despite the tough and windy conditions. However, the putts didn’t
drop for me in the first half. Nonetheless, I hung in there. No one really
challenged my lead today so I knew I just needed to be patient,” said Chadha.
He added, “Last week also I was leading going into the final
round but I couldn’t capitalize on it as I had a poor last day of the
tournament. I knew I was playing well but nothing really worked for me in round
four in Jaipur. However, I put that behind me and didn’t let it affect me this
week.
“My father Mr. Mandeep Singh Chadha has been a big influence
on me. He’s the reason I started playing golf. I was delighted that he was here
to witness my victory today.
“This win is a huge boost for me as I prepare for some big
events on the Asian Tour in the coming weeks.”
Ajeetesh Sandhu (73-72-66-66) fired a second straight 66 to
leapfrog from overnight tied 11th to tied second in the final round.
Ajeetesh made seven birdies and a bogey in his last round effort which included
birdies on the last three holes.
Ajeetesh said, “I’ve played well last two weeks. It was nice
to shoot 12-under over the last two days here. My putting was better than the
previous event. I hit it pretty close today and had three tap-in birdie putts.”
Om Prakash Chouhan (70-71-66-70), who was overnight tied
third, produced a magical eagle-two en route to his 70 as he claimed tied
second place. Chouhan holed his approach from 135 yards on the par-4 seventh
for eagle.
C Muniyappa of Bengaluru slipped from overnight second place
to fourth position after his final round of 73 that took his total to
10-under-278.
Fifth place was shared between Bengaluru golfer Udayan Mane,
Delhi
PGTI Press release
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