Gaganjeet Bhullar wins Inaugural Rs 1.5-Crore IGPL Invitational Chandigarh Leg

Bhullar bogeyed the first hole before sinking an eagle on the second. He then made pars on the next six holes, finishing the front nine with a one-under-35. In the back nine, Bhullar sank a birdie on the 13th before a bogey on the 14th. He added another birdie on the 17th, finishing the final round with a two-under-70 and a total score of five-under-141, narrowly beating M Dharma by two strokes.

“I am proud and thrilled to have created history by becoming the first-ever IGPL Tour winner. It marks a new chapter in Indian golf, and I am honoured to be part of it. The Tour has been carefully developed, bringing together women pros, young pros, and amateurs alongside top professionals. This will help their growth, and I hope I can inspire some of these young players, just like Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, and Arjun Atwal, and other seniors, who inspired me,” Bhullar shared, who took home a winner’s prize of Rs 22.50 lakhs.

Dharma, who scored three-over-75 in the second round, played impressively in the final round. He carded a four-under-68 to finish with an overall score of three-under-213, claiming second place. Veer Ganapathy, son of former professional and now coach Rahul Ganapathy, along with Kartik Sharma and Shaurya Binu, tied for third with an overall score of two-under-214. Chandigarh’s Neil Jolly and Kapil Kumar finished tied for sixth, each with an overall score of one-under-215. Jolly was the top-ranked amateur golfer in the tournament. Jahnavi Bakshi was the leading female finisher among the 54 competitors, finishing 19th with an overall score of four-over-220.

Bhullar praised the efforts of Veer Ganapathy, Kartik Sharma, Neil Jolly, and Shaurya Binu. “Right now, we have very few Indians on the Asian Tour with a Tour card, and I am one of them. There was a time when there were more than a dozen Indians, and many wins came India’s way. It’s always great to win, that’s what we pros play for, but to get these young ones to fly the Indian flag high is my goal and a big motivation,” said Bhullar.

The mixed-format league is organised under the auspices of WGAI, the Indian Golf Union, and the Professional Golfers Association of India, and will be played across ten venues, including the last two legs in Dubai and Colombo.

“We call the IGPL the New Era in Golf, and it has arrived. Gaganjeet is a worthy winner and will inspire many young stars. He is a perfect icon player on the IGPL. We can also be assured that there is a good crop of young stars emerging. I was very happy to see the likes of Veer Ganapathy, Kartik Singh, Raghav Chugh, and others rise to the occasion. It became even more credible as Veer, Kartik, and Raghav took a big step in their lives by turning pro this week, and they showed that they belonged among the professionals,” said Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO of the IGPL.