Golf league: Gators, Eagles play thrilling tie

Chandigarh, October 6

Green Gators and Soaring Eagles played out a thrilling tie as they shared the points on an eventful Friday at the CGL 2023 being played at the Chandigarh Golf Club here.

The Gators looked on course for a comfortable win at the halfway stage but the Eagles came back strongly to halve the match in a gripping finale. In the day’s other matches, Pirates of the Greens went back to winning ways as they beat Empire 4-3, Fairway Comets getting the better of Hunting Hawks 4.5-2.5 and Netsmartz Tigers pulled out a last-gasp 4-3 win over Canam Raptors.

The Green Gators were fast out of the blocks and at one point led in as many as five games before the Soaring Eagles clawed back their way into the match. RS Bedi and Raghav Bhandari won the singles games for the Gators and Eagles respectively before co-owner Ashish Bagrodia combined with Col VP Singh to give Gators the early lead in results. Skipper Amandeep Bhaika combined with Jaspreet Sokhi to go back to winning ways and keep the Eagles in contention. However, Rabbin Saini and Vipul Sehgal made an inspired comeback after being 3 down with six to play and halved their game. Udey Brar and Dashmeet Singh played an up and down game against Suneet Sehgal and Amandeep Singh Virk, who went 4 up after 6 to put Gators ahead and favourites to win the tie. However, a series of clutch moments from the Eagles’ pair saw their team and supporters erupt in joy when they closed out the win.

Pirates of the Greens completed a regulation win. Both sides saw their stronger matchups score the required points. Only one game reached the 17th hole as Dhruvavtar Singh Ghai and skipper Gaurav Talwar gave the Pirates a boost with a 6&5 win in the anchor game. Empire managed to emerge stronger in the fourball games as Brig Balvinder Singh and Iqbaljit Singh Grewal led the charge with a 4&3 win followed by two 4&2 results.