17 January 2019: PGTI TOUR Release
Gurugram’s Priyanshu Singh walked away with the honours at the PGTI’s Final Qualifying Stage for the 2019 season being held at the Kensville Golf & Country Club near Ahmedabad.
Priyanshu (72-70-70-70) topped the leaderboard at the end of the fourth and last round with a total of six-under-282 thus winning the event with a thumping six-shot margin. The 22-year-old, who led the field from the second round until the end, signed off with a third successive two-under 70 in the final round on Thursday.
Delhi’s Wasim Khan (74-71-71-72), last year’s PGTI Q School champion, finished second at even-par 288 after shooting a final round of even-par 72.
At the end of round four, the top 41 players earned their cards for the 2019 PGTI season as the cut in the final round went at 17-over-305. Among the three players tied in 41st, Arjun Singh Chaudhri of Noida was the only one who made the cut based on the round four scores.
The top 41 included six amateurs. There were also five foreigners among the 41 players who earned their full cards. The foreigners included three Bangladeshis, one Nepali and one American.
Priyanshu Singh, who enjoyed a four-shot lead coming into the final round, had a terrible start as he traded a birdie with three bogeys on the front-nine as a result of missing some short conversions.
But Priyanshu, who played college golf at the University of South Florida in the United States prior to turning professional last year, came roaring back on the back-nine courtesy four birdies. He hit a superb nine-iron second shot from 150 yards on the 10th that almost found the hole and led to a tap-in birdie. Singh also sank birdie putts from a range of 15 to 20 feet on the 12th and 15th.
“It’s just been an exceptional and memorable two weeks for me. In the Final Stage, I was just feeding off the confidence from my victory in Pre Qualifying II. I’m now extremely excited about playing on a tour that will have world ranking points. That will really motivate me to work harder,” said a delighted Priyanshu.
“I didn’t enjoy a good start on any of the four days of the Final Stage. But, importantly, I knew that the Kensville course required a lot of patience, so I remained patient and hung in there. I took everything as it came.
“I’m now excited about following in the footsteps of my peers and former India teammates such as Viraj Madappa, Karandeep Kochhar and Aman Raj, who have inspired me with their achievements at the professional level,” added Singh, who has played on the Indian team at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship along with the likes of Viraj Madappa, Karandeep Kochhar and Aman Raj.
Runner-up Wasim Khan struck four birdies and four bogeys during his final round of 72.
Seventeen-year-old Chandigarh lad Aadil Bedi (73), who recently earned his Asian Tour card, took a share of third place along with Bangladesh’s Md Dulal Hossain (73) and Mumbai’s Anil Bajrang Mane (75).
The lone amateur who finished inside the top-10 was Noida’s Hari Mohan Singh. He finished tied 10th at nine-over-297.
