Karandeep Kochhar ended his wait for a maiden title on the IGPL Tour with a hard-earned victory at IGPL Invitational UAE hosted by Shiv Kapur. Kochhar pipped young Veer Ganapathy and Pukhraj Singh to the post at the Els Club in Dubai at the tenth IGPL event of the inaugural season.
Related: SSP, Bhullar make it a golfing spectacle in Dubai
Kochhar, a recent winner on the Asian Development Tour, made up for his runner-up finish at the IGPL Invitational Kolkata, while Ganapathy’s wait for a first pro win continued as he was left knocking on the doors yet again.
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Kochhar shot a third straight 3-under 69 to total 9-under, while Ganapathy, who was seemingly coasting to fine win, was left ruing a costly triple bogey on Par-4 14th hole on the back nine. He shot even par 72 and finished one shot behind Kochhar.
Also finishing tied second was Pukhraj, the winner of IGPL Jamshedpur. He shot 2-under 70 and like Ganapathy was left at 8-under and one behind the winner.
Pranavi Urs, the history-maker at IGPL Mumbai, where she beat Kochhar to the second place, was sole fourth. She shot 1-under 71 and totalled 7-under for the 54 holes. Pranavi became the first woman winner on the IGPL and the first woman to win a pro event, while playing against men.
Gaganjeet Bhullar’s streak of wins ended in the fifth place after a round of 71 and a total of 6-under. His earlier rounds were 67-72. Bhullar had earlier won each time he teed off in his previous three IGPL starts.
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Tournament host Shiv Kapur (72) was tied for 16th place with Ridhima Dilawari (75) at 1-under total, while Jeev Milkha Singh, who flew in straight from Mauritius where he was the runner-up in the European Legends Tour, shot 73 and finished Tied-18th in his first appearance on the IGPL Tour.
Another teen star, Kartik Singh (71), legend SSP Chawrasia (72) and another young rookie pro, Raghav Chugh (72) were tied for the sixth place and all of them are still waiting for their first win on the IGPL Tour which now has one more event to go in Colombo.
The IGPL Order of Merit leader, Aman Raj (73) was tied with Hitaashee Bakshi, who once again put in final round heroics with a 6-under 66, and Mysuru golfer, Yashas Chandra, who has been trending well. Chandra shot 71, as he was tied at 4-under with Aman Raj and Hitaashee.
Four players, Sachin Baisoya (67), Harendra Gupta (68), Kartik Sharna (70) and Gaurav Ghei (72) tied for 12th place.
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Gill, Kochhar and Urs were second behind Ganapathy after the second round. With a two-shot lead Ganapathy seemed set for a win that ultimately slipped away from him on the back nine. Kochhar, who started the final round two shots behind the 36-hole leader, Ganapathy, played steady. With three birdies in the first eight holes, he kept putting pressure on the young Bengaluru star. Kochhar dropped a bogey on the ninth, but again picked birdies on the 13th and the 14th. He dropped a bogey on the 15th but there were no more stumbles as he finished with three closing pars.
Ganapathy’s run to victory took a big hit on the 14th, where he triple bogeyed to fall from 11-under to 8-under. Kochhar interestingly birdied the 14th, and it created a 4-shot swing and that changed the equations.
Ganapathy earlier had a shaky start with a double but two birdies and an eagle on the Par-5 fifth followed by a birdie on the eighth got him back in lead. On the back nine his sole error with a triple bogeyed on the 14th, ended his hopes as Kochhar did not make any major mistakes.
Pranavi had an action-filled final round with six birdies, two on the front nine and four on the back nine. But she also had four bogeys on the front nine and one more on the back nine for a round of 71.
