Chandigarh Golf League: Canam Raptors advance to knockouts

Chandigarh, October 14

Canam Raptors halved their match against Fairway Comets to progress into the knockout stage by the barest of margins on the final day of round-robin matches during the Chandigarh Golf League at the Chandigarh Golf Club.

In other matches, Pirates of the Greens played out a half with Netsmartz Tigers, who missed on to the Raptors by half a point. Golf Ninjas bowed out with a bang with a 6-1 thrashing of Empire, while Tee Birds fell a couple of points short of qualification despite a valiant 5-2 win over Moksha Royals.

Team Ninja secures victory

• Team Ninja, in its second season of the CGL, secured a victory with six out of the seven points. The team was led by their captain, Shiveer Singh. He, along with Jaspratap Sekhon, won their doubles match on the 16th hole with a par
• Another smashing duo was Vikram Bhagwan and Sahir Gill, who hit an laudable set of shots under pressure over a water hazard to reach the edge of the green
• Another great performance was put on by Karan Mahal, a 22-year-old MBA student, who played a one over par round. Sanjiv Verma played extremely well and won on the 16th hole
• Taranbir Nanda and Subash Goel won on the 13th hole with remarkable performances The team played under the able leadership of Agnish Rajesh, an avid golfer

Defending champions Raptors and Fairway Comets kept in touch with each other throughout the day as they kept exchanging leads. Col JM Singh finally found a match and played all 18 for a 1 up before Col IS Bains closed out his singles game 3 and 2. Maj Gen RPS Bhandari and Col RPS Brar won the third point for the Raptors before the Comets, having backloaded their pairs, came to the party and won the last three games by comfortable margins, including co-owners Raman Singh Gill and Sandeep Singh Sandhu’s 5 and 4 victory.

It was heartbreak for the Tigers as they missed on progressing further with a half against the Greens. Kulvinder Singh turned his game after being 3 down at one stage to win 1 up on the final hole. This turned the match towards the Pirates as Netsmartz had been looking good earlier in the match. Manan Jain and Gurjeet Singh Bhattal won 6 and 5, and Avirat Sundra and Amrinder Singh Cheema prevailed 3 and 2 to put pressure on the Tigers mid-way through the match after Kabir Dhaliwal and Jaswant Singh Khara and Mayank Oberoi and Phulbag Sodhi had put up the points for them.

The Ninjas downed the Empire, who still had a chance to qualify. The Ninjas, having the choice of a full team for the first time, saw Karan Singh Mahal and Sanjiv Verma notch up singles wins before winning four of the five four-ball games in stunning fashion. Taranbir Singh Nandha and Subhash Goel came out all guns blazing for a 6 and 5 win. Skipper Shiveer Singh and Jaspartap Singh also won 3 and 2 before their team closed out the final two games on the 18th hole. The Birds put a spirited effort to down a strong Moksha Royals team. However, it was not enough as they needed at least 1.5 more points to progress. The shared singles games broke their hearts as the other results were not in their favour, and they left it too late with too much to do. Ravinder Singh Cheema started the winning roll with a 4 and 3 win, followed by Ajay Wadhwa and Muneet Jakhar establishing themselves as a solid pair with a 3 and 2 win. Jaikaran Sandhawalia, with partner Parminder Singh Sodhi, won 4 and 3 to bring hope, but in the end, Darvesh Kumar, the captain of the Royals, along with Akarsh Garg, sealed their fate with a 2 and 1 win.