Ajeetesh wins PGTI title

handigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu registered a thumping five-shot win after returning a confident 1-under 71 in the last round of the Rs 2 crore Vishwa Samudra Open 2024 at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC). Sandhu (69-67-69-71), who totalled 12-under 276 for the week, took home an impressive prize cheque of Rs 30 lakh. This was Sandhu’s first win in five years and overall seventh professional title and first triumph at the DGC.

Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain (67-73-67-74) finished a distant second at 7-under 281 after he delivered a 74 in the final round. Hossain’s runner-up finish earned him a prize money cheque for Rs 20 lakh that took him 11 spots up from 17th to sixth position in the Tata Steel PGTI Ranking.

Sandhu, who was the overnight leader by a narrow margin of two shots, negotiated the windiest day of the week and tricky pin positions with distinction, finding most of the fairways and greens on Friday. The 36-year-old made no mistake this time around as he made a solitary birdie on the 14th from six feet and backed that up with pars on the rest of the 17 holes.

Sandhu, who was followed on the course by his wife and leading Indian lady professional Tvesa Malik, also made a couple of good par saves with quality chip-putts on the ninth and 13th that helped keep his card clean. He recovered well from a bad lie on the ninth.

Hossain kept pace with Sandhu till the fifth, making pars all the way. However, Jamal’s double-bogey on the sixth, where his approach shot found the bushes, saw him concede a four-shot lead to Sandhu.

Yuvraj Sandhu of Chandigarh, the only player other than Ajeetesh to shoot four sub-par rounds during the week, finished third at five-under 283 as a result of his fourth round of 70.