Gaganjeet Bhullar ends victory drought with Tour Championship win

Key Highlights:

→ Gaganjeet Bhullar finished at 24-under to win the Tour Championship 2020, records 10th PGTI win, first in nine years.

→ Chikkarangappa finishes runner-up, moves into second on PGTI Order of Merit.

Gaganjeet Bhullar has finally ended his nine-year victory drought on the PGTI Tour with a sensational win at the last PGTI event of the year Tour Championship on Sunday. 

Bhullar, who finished his campaign at an incredible 24-under-264, collected his 10th trophy on the PGTI after a long wait of nine years in Jamshedpur.

The second place was secured by Chikkarangappa, who scored a good round (68) on the final day to finish his Tour Championship 2020 journey with a magnificent total of 22-under-266.

Khalin Joshi strokes an impactful round of 69 on the final day to claim the third position at 21-under-267. Whereas, the experienced Rahil Gangjee, who fired the day’s best score of 67, took tied fourth place at 20-under-268 along with SSP Chawrasia (72). 

Amardeep Malik (73), the joint third-round leader with Bhullar and Chawrasia, find a sixth place at 19-under-269.

The 32-year-old Gaganjeet Bhullar brought all his experience into play by coming through despite dropping five shots (three bogeys and a double-bogey) in the final round.

The star player from Kapurthala Gaganjeet shot some early birdies on the first, third, and fourth holes thanks to his accurate iron and wedge shots. Bhullar’s troubles began on the fifth, where he double-bogeyed after finding the hazard. He missed an up and down on the next hole to drop another shot.

Gaganjeet, the winner of 10 international titles, pulled one stroke back with a 15-feet birdie conversion on the eighth before conceding another bogey on the 11th. The broad-built six-footer from Punjab then added two more birdies on the 12th and 13th before finding trouble once again on the 15th, where he landed in the trees and, as a result, made bogey.

The game begins more interesting when Bhullar was two behind Chikka and Joshi after 15 holes. Bhullar then chipped-in for eagle on the 16th and sank a 20-footer for birdie on the 17th to turn the table. As both Chikka and Joshi made a blunder on the 18th with a bogey and 

a double-bogey, Bhullar went on to seal the title with a two-shot margin on the final hole.

Gaganjeet claims the winning cheque worth Rs. 24,24,750 and is ready to jump high in the world ranking from his current 807th position. 

Bhullar said, “Honestly, I was not at all expecting to win this week. This week the first goal for me was to make the cut. But I kept gaining momentum with each passing round and played four solid rounds where my putting was very consistent.

While runner-up Chikka mixed seven birdies with three bogeys during his 68, third-placed Khalin sank five birdies at the expense of a double-bogey for his 69.

The veteran Jyoti Randhawa, who played his best in recent years on the first three days (68,65,69), lost his momentum on the final day and shot a disastrous (81) with a total of five-under-283 and slips to tied-30th spot. 

India's International star Anirban Lahiri (68) took 11th place at 14-under-274.

PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar fired 72 in the final round to finish his Tour Championship campaign at 14th position with a total of 12-under-276.