Gurgaon, Sep 19 (Inditop.com) It may well be one of best match-ups the Aircel professional golf Tour has seen when Gaganjeet Bhullar and Jyoti Randhawa walk out in the final grouping on the last day of the Rs.8 million DLF Masters at the DLF golf and Country Club Sunday.
Bhullar, unbeaten in his last four starts on the Indian Tour, is at 11-under 205 after a round of three-under 69, and one shot behind him is Randhawa (67), unbeaten in his last five starts on the Indian Tour. Given such an amazing record between the two, it remains to be seen whose streak will finally come to an end Sunday afternoon.
Behind Bhullar and Randhawa Saturday were Shamim Khan and Digvijay Singh at eight-under 208, while Toran Bikram Shahi (68) shared the fifth place at six-under 210 with Ashok Kumar (71), who had a bad patch with a double bogey and a bogey on 14th and 15th.
S.S.P. Chowrasia (71) and Yusuf Ali (67) were at five-under in tied seventh. Anirban Lahiri (71) and Rahil Gangjee were ninth and 10th, while Shiv Kapur ((72) was tied 12th with six others, including C. Muniyappa (69) at one-under.
“I am not going to put any pressure on myself in the final round. I hit some really good approach shots today. But my overall performance was not as good as yesterday. I’m quite disappointed about missing some short putts.
“Jyoti had a great round considering the pin positions were very tough today. I’m now looking forward to an interesting contest on the final day,” said Bhullar.
Randhawa on his part said: “This has been a good week to build back my confidence. I played well on the front nine and it was going fine till the 12th, where I went out of bounds and made a double (bogey). The back nine was up and down. Still I think I played fine. It is great for Indian golf that Gaganjeet and I go out together in the final round.”
Bhullar returned a 69 in the third round to lead by one from Randhawa. Shamim and Digvijay are tied for third at eight under 208.
Bhullar took time to settle down in the third round. He was one over after six holes, having missed a short putt for par on the fifth. He then picked up three birdies on the seventh, ninth and 11th to turn the heat on Randhawa, who had grabbed the lead by then.
The Kapurthala lad, who has won once and finished second three times on Asian Tour this year, made bogey on the 12th but came roaring back with great approach shots on the 13th and 15th to grab two invaluable birdies. On the 13th his lob wedge approach came up six feet short of the cup and on the 15th he had a similar result with his approach shot from the right rough. He closed with a bogey-birdie on the last two holes to snatch the lead from Randhawa.
Randhawa came out firing on all cylinders Saturday as he birdied the third, fourth, fifth and seventh to make the turn at four under. He then went past Bhullar and Shamim and took the lead with an incredible eagle-birdie run on the 10th and 11th. On the par four 10th, Randhawa used his pitching wedge to great effect from the right rough. He holed the shot from 125 yards out.
The former Asia no. 1 then stumbled with a double bogey on the 12th as a result of his tee shot going out of bounds. A birdie followed on the 13th before an ordinary approach shot on the 15th led to another bogey. He thus conceded the lead to Bhullar at the end of the day.
rounak