Special effort fires up Abhijit Singh

Feature by Anand Datla

October 16, 2014: After Rahul Bajaj and Randhir Singh stole the show with a 66 on Wednesday, it was the turn of another unheralded hero to tame the demanding greens at the imposing Noida Golf Club today. With a ranking of 1167 and just three starts this season, Abhijit Singh Chadha is barely the kind that might draw your attention. So he decided to storm into the hearts of golf fans with a terrific effort in the third round of the PGTI Players Championship. He tied for second with Abhinav Lohan and Arjun Singh at -5, just three off the pace set by Khalin Joshi.

Chadha was only one under after the first nine holes of the third round, still far from being a suspect to seal a place among the leaders at the marquee event. Having made a 74 and 70 in the first two rounds, the golfer from Punjab was merely hold his own against a demanding course. But in an inspired burst of energy, Chadha unleashed himself on the course from the 12th through the 15th holes.

As if he were man in a tearing rush, Abhijit made three birdies and an eagle at the par-5 14th to go six under and command sudden attention. A bogey four at the 16th halted his tremendous progress, but Chadha played with due care to finish with a pair of pars and retain his score at 5-under. His 67, the low round of the day, allowed Abhijit to rub shoulders with the first round leader Abhinav Lohan (2-over 74) and Arjun Singh (68) as the three men settled into second behind Joshi, three shots ahead at 8-under.

With the pins playing tougher than the first two rounds, there were just six scores of better than par, the lowest in the first three rounds. It is under such circumstances that you need to absorb the commanding performance offered by an inspired Chadha.