Veer crowned PGTI Ranking champion, Shaurya wins emerging player honour

Jamshedpur, Dec 22 (IANS) It was double delight for Gurugram’s Veer Ahlawat on Sunday. The 28-year-old Veer, who had already sealed the No. 1 spot in the PGTI Ranking before the final event of the 2024 PGTI season, also stole the show with the day’s best score of seven-under 64 and a playoff victory against Amardeep Malik to clinch the season-ending Championship, Rs 3 crore event, played at the Beldih and Golmuri Golf Courses in Jamshedpur.

Veer Ahlawat (67-68-68-64) prevailed over Amardeep Malik (67-64-71-65) on the second playoff hole after the two players were tied in first position at 17-under 267 at the end of the regulation 72 holes.

Sri Lankan N Thangaraja (67) claimed third place at 16-under 268 while Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu (67) and two-time Tour Championship winner Udayan Mane (70) of Pune finished tied fourth at 14-under 270.

Indian star and two-time Tour Championship winner Gaganjeet Bhullar (69) took ninth place at 10-under 274.

Veer Ahlawat picked up the winning cheque worth Rs 45 lakh to take his season’s earnings to a whopping Rs 1,56,35,724, thus smashing the previous record for season’s earnings on the PGTI set at Rs 1,18,26,059, by Om Prakash Chouhan in 2023.

The six-foot four-inch tall Veer, who hails from the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurugram, won two titles and posted seven other top-10s this season. Notably, Veer had a runner-up finish at the Indian Open, an event co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour. He thus became the second player after Om Prakash Chouhan to breach the Rs 1 crore mark in season’s earnings on the PGTI. As a result of his Order of Merit triumph, Veer has now earned himself a card on the DP World Tour for the 2025 season.

Bengaluru-based Rahil Gangjee finished a distant second on the PGTI Ranking with season’s earnings of Rs 69,21,582. Rahil secured eighth place at Jamshedpur this week as he totaled 11-under 273.

All four rounds of the event saw one half of the field play their first nine holes at Golmuri Golf Course and second nine at Beldih Golf Course while the other half of the field played Beldih first followed by Golmuri. The par for the round was 71. The leading groups started at Golmuri and finished at Beldih.

Veer, who was overnight tied sixth and four shots off the lead, came out firing on all cylinders on the front-nine, picking up an eagle and two birdies before the turn, as he landed it within four feet on two occasions and also sank a 20-footer. After a bogey on the 11th, Veer got his game back on track with four birdies, not leaving himself anything longer than 10 feet on the greens.

Amardeep Malik, who had a bogey-free round, was leader for a major part of the day thanks to his five birdies on the front-nine. Amardeep, a two-time winner on the PGTI, slowed down on the back-nine where he managed just one birdie. However, he kept the errors out.

When the playoff began on the 18th hole, Amardeep enjoyed the better playoff record having won one out of two encounters while Veer had lost both his previous playoffs. On the first playoff hole, Amardeep had a heart-breaking lip-out from 20 feet that could’ve sealed a birdie and perhaps the match for him.

On the second extra hole, Amardeep hit it over the green and missed the chip-putt for par while Veer continued to play steady and made the decisive par to lift his fourth professional trophy. Amardeep’s runner-up finish earned him Rs 30 lakh and thus propelled him from 23rd to sixth place in the PGTI Order of Merit.

Ahlawat said, “At the start of the round, I knew I had to go really low. So, I was looking to score on all the Par-5s and the short Par-4s. I had also been hitting my wedges well from the fairways all week. That added to my confidence. I had worked a lot on my wedge play and that paid off today.

“In the playoff, I used one of my favoured clubs, the gap wedge, to perfection. I also felt I had an advantage in the playoff because the 18th hole suited my game since I hit a lot of fades and the 18th is tailor-made for the fade shot.

“My family, including my parents and my wife, gave me a pleasant surprise by landing up in Jamshedpur yesterday. Their presence on the course today was a huge encouragement for me to do well. I’m glad I didn’t disappoint them.

“It’s been a great season for me and I’m very happy about my consistent showing. Winning the PGTI Order of Merit was a major goal and I’m delighted to have achieved that. I’m now eagerly looking forward to playing on the DP World Tour in 2025. I’m working on a few things to prepare myself well for the different conditions in Europe.”

Jamshedpur-based professionals Karan Taunk (four-over 288) and Kurush Heerjee (10-over 294) finished tied 47th and tied 54th respectively.

Twenty-one-year-old rookie Shaurya Bhattacharya of Delhi won the PGTI Emerging Player of the Year title with season’s earnings of Rs 23,14,017, the highest among the rookies. Shaurya, who secured tied 45th place at three-over 287 at the season-ending event, secured a creditable 28th position on the PGTI Order of Merit as a result of his win and four other top-20s in the season.

–IANS

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