Having wrested lead on the penultimate day with a fine 65, Shubhankar Sharma fired in another identical round in the final round to win the PGTI Players’ Championship here at the Eagleton Golf Resort on Friday.
The talented teen from Gurgaon drove home the overnight three-shot advantage to be crowned champion with a total score of 24-under-264, a massive six shots ahead of the rest of the field.
Sri Lankan Anura Rohana was the runner-up at 18-under-270 after a final round of 68 at the Rs 30 lakh event.
Sharma (65-70-64-65) carried forward his form from Bangladesh last week, when he recorded his career-best Asian Tour finish of third place, with a sparkling performance at Eagleton. It was poetic justice for the 19-year-old who had suffered a heart-breaking playoff loss here, just over three months back, to local lad S Chikkarangappa.
The Asian Tour rookie made an early dent in the leaderboard with a hat-trick of birdies from the second to the fourth. With no competition in sight, Sharma seemed to be on course for an easy win courtesy three more birdies on the next six holes.
Sharma then had the title in the bag after a crucial par-save from 10 feet on the 14th even as his nearest competitors Rohana and Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh were a distant five shots and eight shots behind respectively. Sharma finally closed the week with a birdie on the 18th to register his second professional win in emphatic fashion.
Sharma, who shot the day’s best for the second day in succession, took home the winner’s cheque of Rs. 4,50,000 at the season’s second event to be placed fourth in the Rolex Ranking 2016. Kolkata’s Feroz Ali Mollah, the winner of the season-opener last week, continues to lead the money list with earnings of Rs. 9,44,260 so far.
The battle for second place took an interesting turn when Sujjan chipped-in from the bunker for an eagle-two on the 17th which moved him within one stroke of Rohana. The two golfers then made pars on the last hole as Rohana went on to claim the runner-up position.
Bengaluru’s Kanishk Sinha finished as the best amateur. He was tied 41st at one-over-289.
Top scores (after 72 holes): 264: Shubhankar Sharma (65, 70, 64, 65); 270: Anura Rohana (68, 68, 66, 68); 271: Sujjan Singh (68, 65, 70, 68); 272: Mukesh Kumar (64, 68, 71, 69); 273: Vikrant Chopra (73, 64, 68, 68).
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks