Bajaj takes title

In a late surge,Rahul Bajaj came from three shots behind to win the LG Samarvir Sahi Chandigarh Open that was played at the par-72 Chandigarh Golf Club.

Written by Express News Service
Chandigarh | October 24, 2009 05:42 AM IST

3 min read

In a late surge,Rahul Bajaj came from three shots behind to win the LG Samarvir Sahi Chandigarh Open that was played at the par-72 Chandigarh Golf Club. Overnight leader Abhinav Lohan got off to a strong start but a meltdown halfway through the final round saw him fall behind Bajaj who persevered to come from behind to win the title with a total of six-over 294. Lohan finished one shot behind him at seven-over 295.

Gagan Verma returned a card of 73 to finish in lone third place while Karan Taunk carded 71 to finish in fourth place. Local lad Abhijit Chadha fell down the leaderboard with a 77 in the final round.

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But the day was really about the tussle between the winner and runner-up which started off with Abhinav Lohan sending all signals that he would run away with the title. Lohan picked up two birdies very early on in his round and opened up a four shot lead. Bajaj who started off with a bogey,kept himself in contention but with the lead increasing,it looked like Lohan was all set for his maiden title on the LG Amateur Tour. But what followed was a disastrous run for Lohan which saw him lose six shots,from the 8 th to the 15th hole. The double bogey on the 15th from Lohan saw Bajaj get to the top spot for the first time since he held the lead early on in the tournament. A 10-footer for birdie on the next hole increased his lead to three shots and it was all about keeping it together for the Noida Golf Club player to seal his second win.

There were nerves which manifested itself in the form of a bogey on the 17th and a poor tee shot on the final hole for Bajaj. Lohan took one last swipe at the title with a birdie on the last but Bajaj comfortably two-putted to deny him a shot at the title.

“I needed to win this one desperately. The first win was important but it seems like a long time back. I was getting myself into contention but never went on to win the title. This one was an extremely important win for me,said Bajaj. The players will now head to Delhi for the LG ITC Classic Open in the first week of November.

Leading Scores:
294: Rahul Bajaj ( 72,81,70,71),295: Abhinav Lohan (76,75,69,75),296: Gagan Verma ( 75,74,75,72),299: Karan Taunk ( 78,78,72,71),300: Vikram Rana ( 73,79,73,75),300: Abhijeet Chadha (72,76,75,77),301: Pawan Kumar ( 76,74,77,74),302: Aman Guron ( 77,75,72,78),303: Angad Cheema ( 74,81,75,73),305: Ankur Chadha ( 77,77,77,74),305: Ashbeer S Saini ( 75,74,81,75),307: Varoon Parmar ( 76,81,73,77),307: L. Selvadurai ( 77,74,78,78),307: Simarjeet Singh ( 76,73,80,78).