Abhinav Lohan made it a memorable final day as he struck an ace enroute his determined three-under 69 to secure victory at a total of seven-under 209 at the Glade One presents Gujarat Open Golf Championship 2024, an INR 1 crore event played at the Glade One Golf Resort & Club in Ahmedabad.
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Mani Ram returned a last round of 73 to finish runner-up at a total of six-under 210.
The first two rounds of the tournament comprised nine holes each. The third and fourth rounds comprised 18 holes each. The tournament was played over a total of 54 holes. The par for the course in the third and fourth rounds was 72. The 9-hole course was played twice in Rounds Three and Four with different pin positions.
Lohan (34-36-70-69), overnight tied fifth and five shots off the lead, had a dream outing at Glade One on Saturday as he came up with an ace on the 16th that turned the tide in his favour and helped him seize his third career title and first in four years.
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The 34-year-old started the day with a bogey but came back with some good wedge shots on the fifth and eighth that produced birdies. On the 13th he narrowly missed a hole-in-one and had to settle for a birdie.
Lohan then suffered a setback on the 14th where he made a three-putt and dropped a bogey. This was followed by the game-changer hole-in-one on the 16th that helped Lohan leapfrog all his rivals except the leader Ram who later stumbled with a quadruple-bogey on the 17th that saw Abhinav emerge champion.
Ram (33-33-71-73) was staring at his maiden PGTI title with a two-shot lead till the 16th thanks to his four birdies and two bogeys. But a few poor bunker shots on the 17th where he had a tough lie saw Ram concede a quadruple-bogey. However, his birdie with a long conversion on the 18th helped the 41-year-old Mani Ram claim the sole runner-up spot.
Lohan said, “I had found my putting rhythm in Round Two. I just built on that today. I know I have a healthy lead but at the same time I can’t afford to get complacent in the last round. It’s now about keeping my nerves, placing it well off the tees and avoiding the rough as much as I can in the final round.”
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Lohan, a part of the Indian team that won silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, said, “That hole-in-one changed everything for me. I still can’t believe what a day I’ve had. Sitting in the scoring area I was more worried about calculating my score correctly before signing my score card because I’ve signed a wrong score card in the past. I guess it was just meant to be. I didn’t hit the best of shots on the 16th but it landed perfectly on the slope and found the hole.
“I would like to thank my family, my coach, my sponsor and my home course DLF Golf & Country Club for all their support since this win has been a long time coming,” added Abhinav, who picked up the winner’s cheque worth INR 15 lakh to jump from 26th to third position in the TATA Steel PGTI Ranking.
Italy’s Michele Ortolani and Angad Cheema took tied third place at five-under 211.
