04 December 2021: In one of the most impressive performances in recent months, Abhijit Chadha went bogey free for 71 holes, securing a six-stroke victory in the Pune Open Golf Championship. The 30-year-old from Chandigarh held the lead for three of the four rounds, finishing with an emphatic 66 to clinch his third title on the PGTI Tour.
Kartik Sharma started the day just one-stroke behind Chadha, but a nervous start put paid to his hopes. Sharma made back to bogeys at the second and third to hand the initiative to the man in front. Abhijit steered clear with back to back birdies at the fifth and sixth, stretching his lead to five strokes.
“I’m very proud of my effort as I handled myself really well the whole week especially with the conditions not being favourable,” explained Abhijit.
“I didn’t expect it to be so calm today but Kartik made a few mistakes early on and I capitalized on them. From there on, it was just about keeping the ball in play. So I was quite relaxed for most of the round.
“I’ve had two top-10s and an 11th place finish in my last three events. So the game has been on the upswing and I’ve been shooting good numbers for a while.
“When I holed that final putt, it was a feeling of relief and also validation of all the hard work that I’ve done and the inputs that I’ve got coming from everywhere. It’s great to see everything coming together.
“My caddie, the seasoned Raju, did a great job. He was superb and very professional throughout the week.”
An eagle at the 10th signaled intent from Sunit Chowrasia, but he was too far back. His 65 was only enough to bring him to 13-under for third place.
Sharma finished the week with a birdie on the 18th, breaking the monotony of fourteen pars. One-over 71 wasn’t going to challenge an impeccable opponent in the form of his life. He finished two ahead of Sunit, and six behind the winner.
Abhijit sealed victory with a couple of birdies at the 16th and 17th, as if to tie the ribbon on a convincing week of excellent golf. He has been in good form, having finished in ninth, eighth and eleventh in the last three starts. Victory in Pune takes his win counter to three, adding to the Surya Nepal Masters in 2012 and the Bilt Open in 2015.
“I am really happy with my golf this week. It felt like a lot of my hard work finally came together,” said Abhijit. “It is not often that you go bogey free for 71 holes, so that makes this victory very special.”
“I believe this is a beginning for me, of a good run,” he added. “Golf is a process and I am happy to see that it is yielding me some good results. I will continue to build on it.”
Syed Saqib Ahmed finished in fourth place 9-under 270, a full dozen strokes behind the winning total of 21-under 258.
Manu Gandas, Om Prakash Chouhan and Sanjeev Kumar secured T5 at 8-under. Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and Karan Pratap Singh were a further stroke back in T8. Yuvraj, winner of the Servo Masters earned a sixth straight top ten finish on the PGTI Tour. It is his twelfth top ten this season, including the victory at Digboi.
Gaurav Pratap Singh, Shamim Khan and Md Zamal Hossain Mollah brought up the rear end of the top ten at 6-under 279.
