Oct 2, 2016: India’s Ganganjeet Bhullar returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2013 when he powered his way to victory with a final round four-under-par 67 at the Shinhan Donghae Open.
Gaganjeet Bhullar capped the sensational week of golf with the one shot victory over Scott Vincent & Taewoo Kim. Gaganjeet Bhullar produced brilliant golf on Sunday, scoring 67 to clinch victory on Sunday.
Khalin Joshi made the day more sweeter for India finishing in T15. Khalin scored an even 71 to finish the tournament.
Gaganjeet marched to victory on the strength of 6 birdies over an nine holes stretch. Overall he made seven birdies and 3 bogeys on a memorable Sunday for Indian Golf.
Asian Tour rookie Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe could not have asked for a more memorable week after he closed with a 69 to finish tied for second with Korea’s Taewoo Kim at the KRW 1.2 billion (approximately US$1 million) event.
Australia’s Scott Hend increased his lead atop the Asian Tour Order of Merit by signing off with a 68 take a share of fourth place with Sweden’s Malcolm Kokocinski.
With the relentless rain pelting down on the Bear’s Best Cheongna Golf Club, Bhullar kept his composure by reaching the turn in 34 after three birdies and a bogey.
Four birdies in his next five holes after the turn saw Bhullar reach the top of the leaderboard at 17-under, with a commanding four-shot advantage.
His charge towards victory was however halted when he bogeyed 16 and 17.
Bhullar then parred the closing 18 for four-day total of 15-under-par 269 but had to endure a nervous wait as Vincent and Kim, who were playing in the last group, still had the opportunity to force a play-off.
“This is the best I’ve ever played. This is my sixth Asian Tout title and the last one was back in 2013. After that I got injured and I was struggling a lot. I lost my winner’s category status last year and I put in a lot of hard work into my game this year. It’s great and I know it’s going to take some time for this win to sink in.
I haven’t played much golf in the rain. But it was raining all the way from the first tee to the 18 green. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to your will power and mentally how strong you are. I didn’t see the leaderboard until I reached the 15th tee box.
My world rankings dropped to a low 700 plus in the world. But I had lots of will power and determination to get back into shape. At the end of the day, I’m glad I won this tournament”, said the 28 year old Gaganjeet.
“I knew I was leading by four shots and somehow 16 was one of the toughest holes and I had to keep the ball in play and try to make a par at least.
“But I made a bogey there after hitting the water. Despite those two bogeys, I was still mentally strong and I knew that nobody was going to stop me from winning today,” said Bhullar.
Bhullar’s thoughts proved prophetic as Kim and Vincent could not extend the tournament into extra-time with their closing birdie and par respectively.
