Pukhraj claims maiden pro title, wins IGPL Jamshedpur by record nine shots

Jamshedpur, Nov 7 (PTI) Pukhraj Singh Gill ended his long wait for a maiden professional success with a commanding performance at the IGPL Invitational Jamshedpur, winning by a record margin of nine shots on Friday.

The event saw Pukhraj return a bogey-free final round of six-under 66 for a total of 23-under, his only bogey of the week coming on the second day.

Chinnaswamy Muniyappa, the 2009 Indian Open champion, carded the day’s best 64 to finish second at 14-under, while overnight joint leader Sachin Baisoya (69) slipped to third despite a late eagle.

Harendra Gupta, Saarthak Chibber and Sudhir Sharma shared the fourth spot at 12-under, and Aryan Roopa Anand was seventh at 11-under.

Shat Mishra, Yashas Chandra and Tushar Pannu tied for eighth at 10-under, while former Asian Tour winner Chiragh Kumar was 11th at nine-under.

The sixth event of the season took Pukhraj to second in the IGPL Order of Merit with Rs 48,81,382, behind leader Aman Raj (Rs 60,48,858). Kartik Singh (Rs 47,67,857) is third.

"It’s beyond all elatedness — just incredible to finally get my first professional victory,” said an emotional Pukhraj, who had come close on multiple occasions.

“There was a lot of uncharted territory for me... the way I was able to handle myself out there is just unbelievable.” He recalled words of encouragement from Gaganjeet Bhullar.

“He told me, ‘You’re going to win many times this year.’ For it to have really happened now feels great,” Pukhraj said.

Pukhraj, who had earlier finished runner-up at the Jaypee Greens, said the layout of Beldih Golf Course suited his long game.

“The course design allowed me to capitalise on my distance off the tee. That made a huge difference this week,” he said.

With the long-awaited win behind him, Pukhraj said he now looks forward to the Mumbai leg. “There was a big baggage of not being able to win so far, and now it’s off my shoulders,” he added. PTI TAP AM TAP AM AM