Pune, June 25 (IANS) Mukesh Kumar of Mhow got back to his winning ways after he edged out Kolkata’s Rahil Gangjee on the second play-off hole to clinch the Aircel PGTI Players Championship title at the Poona Club here Friday.
Mukesh and Gangjee headed for the play-off as they ended up with identical totals of five under 279 after the regulation 72 holes. While Mukesh shot a four under 67 in the final round, Gangjee turned in a card of three under 68.
Mukesh’s win earned him the winner’s cheque worth Rs. 6,46,600 and helped him climb from third position to second spot in the Rolex Rankings (Order of Merit). It was also the 44-year-old’s first ever win in Pune and his 10th on the Aircel PGTI.
Mukesh (73-71-68-67) was six strokes off the lead in tied ninth position after round three, but produced yet another fine last round effort to snatch victory. He had a sedate start to the day, having dropped a bogey on the fifth, but started looking dangerous when he picked up birdies on the seventh, eight, 11th and 12th thanks to some outstanding chipping and putting.
Mukesh and Rahil were all square after the first play-off hole. Mukesh ran away with it on the second hole as he hit a brilliant second shot from 275 yards that landed 20 feet from the flag on the par five 18th. The old warhorse won with a par as Gangjee found the rough and the bunker on the same hole and as a result made bogey.
‘I knew I was in contention after I made a great 15 footer for birdie on the 15th that put me in the joint lead along with Himmat Singh Rai. The chip on the 18th that landed a few inches from the pin tilted the scales in my favour as it led to a play-off,’ said Mukesh, who has a terrific play-off record.
The winner of the highest number of titles on the Aircel-PGTI went on to add: ‘This win is special because I came back really well after having made a slow start to the tournament. This also happens to be my first win in Pune. The rough proved to be very challenging as I had never thought that the winning score this week would be as high as five under.’
Gangjee’s (68-73-70-68) final round that included an eagle on the 10th, four birdies and three bogeys helped him secure his best finish of the year.
‘I was one over on the front nine but then started pulling it back with the eagle-birdie on the 10 th and 11th. I was not able to find the fairway on the last hole in the earlier rounds and that happened once again today and turned out to be the deciding factor between victory and defeat,’ said Gangjee.
Gaganjeet Bhullar carded a 72 to finish in tied third at three under 281 along with overnight leader Himmat Singh Rai who returned a 75.
Shamim Khan and Manav Jaini shared fifth spot at two under 282 while Anirban Lahiri, who fired a blistering 65, Vinod Kumar and Karanjit Singh Sandhu were a further two strokes back in tied seventh. .
C. Muniyappa was in tied 10th along with Feroz Ali Mollah and Pune-based amateur Aditya Bhandarkar at two over 286. Bhandarkar won the trophy for having finished with the best score among the amateurs.
Pune-based professionals Gurki Shergill (12 over 296) and Dinesh Raghuvanshi (16 over 300) finished tied 33rd and tied 49th respectively.
