Shaurya Binu OF Unico Gurugram: Gaganjeet Bhullar’s biggest weapon has been his self-belief, and it carried him to yet another title, his fourth win of the season and seventh overall at the Phoenix Invitational Hyderabad presented by Hyderabad Firebirds GC on Friday.
For the second week in a row, Bhullar, who birdied twice in his last three holes at Vooty Golf County, won a play-off. This time the win came against Raghav Chugh, who was just four years old when Bhullar turned pro.
Bhullar of Vimtra Chennai Lions GC had twin birdies on the 16th and the 17th to get to 14-under, while Raghav Chugh of Phoenix Hyderabad Firebirds GC, who had held the lead minutes earlier, holed a must-hole birdie on his closing hole to force a play-off.
Bhullar once again came out the victor in the shoot-out played on the Par-4 18th. A little earlier, Bhullar had a shot at a 20-footer for a birdie, which would have given him an outright win, but it was destined to come in a play-off.
Sachin Baisoya of Phoenix Hyderabad Firebirds GC was sole third at 13-under, while Kartik Sharma of Flyingman Kolkata Tigers GC, who produced the best card of the day at 9-under 63, was tied-4th alongside Harshjeet Singh Sethie of Vimtra Chennai Lions GC (70) and Shaurya Binu OF Unico Gurugram Tuskers GC (64) at 12-under. It was the best IGPL finish of 2026 for both Kartik and Harshjeet.
M. Dharma of Green Fuels Vizag Dolphins GC, Sawai Hamendra Singh Bhati of Auro Realty Goa Eagles GC and Arjun Prasad of Unico Gurugram Tuskers GC were tied for seventh place at 11-under, as Olympian Udayan Mane, Shiv Kapur and young Danish Verma, the overnight leader, were tied for tenth at 10-under.
In the team contest, hosts Phoenix Hyderabad Firebirds led by Raghav Chugh, Sachin Baisoya, Ranjit Singh and Arjun Bhati took the honours at 27-under, edging aside Flyingman Kolkata Tigers (Kartik Sharma, Syed Saqib Ahmed, Varun Parikh and Sukhman Singh) and Chennai Lions (Bhullar, Sethie, Ravi Kumar and Yashas Chandra), who were tied second at 26-under.
Bhullar, who was trailing with three holes to go, revealed that minutes before his two, he felt he could still turn it around despite holes running out. He said, “But, somehow, you know. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I knew that I could turn it around sooner or later. And it happened with those two late birdies.
As the Vooty Golf County gave the players a lot of birdie chances, Baisoya, who teed off from the third hole in the shotgun start, opened the final round with three birdies in a row and snatched the early lead.
However, he stumbled with a bogey on the tenth and then recovered again with three birdies in four holes between the 12th and the 15th to become the first to touch 14-under, a total that would have got him into the play-off.
Once again things did not go his way and the double bogey on the 17th, his 15th hole, spelt disaster. He did not give up – he parred the 18th, picked a birdie on the first to get to 13-under and parred his last hole.
Chugh was one hole behind, and Bhullar was two behind. Bhullar birdied two of his last three holes to get to 14-under, and Chugh pulled one more out of the hat on his last hole to join him at 14-under.
Baisoya was left stranded at third place, a week after losing a play-off. “I tried my best, and I will keep doing that. I have been playing well, and I know I can win any week,” said Baisoya, who won in Mauritius and has been in the top-4 four other times this season.
Bhullar, who said he just was not being able to hole the birdie putts over his last two days, also said, “I was not playing my best over the last two days, but I hung in. Experience has taught me to be patient even, and it paid off.”
However, he stayed within hand-shaking distance of the lead. And when it came to the crunch, he reeled in back-to-back birdies on the 16th and the 17th to leap ahead of Chugh. The youngster joined him at 14-under as he replied with a do-or-die birdie on his final hole – the first since he had started on the second in the shotgun start.
Bhullar was now on his last hole left and at 14-under. He had a long shot from about 20 feet but narrowly missed it.
He made no such errors on the par-4 18th in the play-off. He hit a perfect tee shot and his approach came within two feet for a give-in birdie. Chugh ‘yanked’ to the left, and his second shot was just short of the green from where his 30-footer almost slipped in before lipping out. He conceded Bhullar had less than two feet.
Chugh, who logged his best result of the season twice, was T-8 this season and T-9 last week – and came close to a breakthrough, said, “It was a great finish. I learnt so much from this week. I am proud of the way I came back from double bogey-bogey start on the first day and was 3-over after two holes. I had another double on the front nine, but I played my way back. I was still 3-over when I walked off the 11th hole on Day 1. Then I played 17-under for my last 43 holes. I am very proud of that.”
Bhullar, as usual, was gracious and very appreciative of Chugh. “He is a very good player, and at 23-24 he is still learning, and I have been a pro for 20 years,” he said with a laugh. “He played very well, and he will go far, and he has the game.”
Chugh, starting from the second, birdied the third and the fourth, but bogeys on the fifth and the ninth meant he was back to par for the day and fell well back behind the leaders. After the crossover with 10 holes left, Chugh birdied the 10th, 12th, 14th, and the 15th for four birdies in six holes, and that saw him get into the frame and in serious contention at 13-under and just one behind Baisoya, who had reached 14-under and one group ahead of him.
The next event is scheduled to be held in Pune from November 18-20.
Article Source: IANS
