Chandigarh's Yuvraj wins his maiden PGTI title

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 20

After knocking on the door several times earlier this season, city golfer Yuvraj Singh Sandhu finally managed to push the door open as he carded a solid 8-under 64 in the final round to win his maiden title on the PGTI Tour at the Rs60-lakh IndianOil SERVO Masters Golf 2021.

Sandhu’s (66-68-67-64) total of 23-under 265 set the record for the lowest winning aggregate at the Digboi Golf Links.

Bengaluru’s M Dharma (69-68-68-66) finished second at 17-under 271 following his last round of 6-under 66.

Sandhu, the overnight leader by two shots, came up with an eagle, eight birdies and two bogeys in the fourth round to pick up the winning cheque of Rs9,69,900 and jump five places to sixth position on the PGTI Order of Merit with season’s earnings of Rs33,69,400.

The 24-year-old began the day with a bogey on the first but soon regained ground with birdies on the third, fifth and seventh. He chipped-in on the fifth.

From third till the eighth hole, Dharma was breathing down Sandhu’s neck as the former sank five birdies to trail the latter by just one shot. However, a double bogey on the ninth pushed Dharma on to the back foot.

Sandhu then made a crucial chip-putt birdie on the 11th to seize the momentum as he got on a hot streak making three birdies, an eagle and a birdie on the next five holes that stretched his lead to seven shots and sealed the deal for him.

Sandhu produced two excellent drives – a 30-feet conversion and two 10-feet conversions – during his dream run from the 11th to the 16th.

Sandhu’s bogey on the 17th didn’t change the equation as his nearest rival Dharma was a fair distance away with just three birdies on the back-nine.

Sandhu’s 23-under 265 bettered the previous lowest winning total of 20-under 268 at the Digboi Golf Links achieved by Mukesh Kumar in 2002, Shankar Das in 2015 and Honey Baisoya in 2016.

“I started with the same feeling as the first three days but Dharma played some phenomenal golf on the first eight holes and he gave me a tough time on the front-nine. But on the back-nine I got the reins back and took control,” said Sandhu.

“I had a tricky start, so the birdie on the third was crucial to get back into the game. After the eagle on the 15th, I knew I had it in the bag but I still wanted to see how low can I go and that explained my aggressive approach till the end,” he added.

Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta (69) finished fifth at 14-under 274.

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