It was indeed a very joyous occasion for the brother duo of Jasjeet and Simarjeet Singh from the Noida Golf Course, as they finished one and two respectively at the Royal Challenge Amateur Golf Championship, which concluded at the Poona Club Golf Course on Friday.
While Jasjeet, who was leading the field by three strokes after the penultimate round, carded another solid round of one-under 70 for the day and five-under 279 for the championship to win by a comfortable margin of two strokes, Simarjeet, who was playing in the same group as his brother, shot a two-under 69 to finish sole second with a four-day total of three-under 281.
Amardip Sinh Malik, the strapping young golfer from Army Golf Course, Meerut, and India's leading Junior, Ajeetesh Sandhu, tied for third place at one-under 283.
Amardip, who was placed third after day two but had slipped to seventh place due to a four-over finish on day three, came back into the tournament with a scintillating three-under 68, which was also the lowest round of the day. He started the day with a bogy on the very first hole but recovered well with a spate of birdies on fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, tenth and 11th. However, dropped shots on the third and 13th marred a round, which would have otherwise given Jasjeet a run for his money.
On the other hand, 15-year old Ajeetesh had a very eventful round. He too started badly with bogies on the second and third, but came back strong with birdies on fourth, fifth and seventh and eighth to be two-under at the turn. He started strongly in the back-nine as well with birdies on the 10th and 11th but then bogied 12th, 13th, 16th and 18th.
For Jasjeet, it was a championship, which would be hard to forget, for it came after quite some time and when he needed it the most. He started the day with a lead of three strokes but lost one immediately with a bogey on the difficult par three second. From then on, he played like a true champion with birdies on fourth, sixth, ninth and 15th.
The shot of the day for him came on the 348 yards long par four ninth where his tee shot reached the green. An errant second shot on the 16th and a three-putt on the 17th were the only mistakes he made throughout the game which cost him two strokes, but he had already won the championship by then.
"I am ecstatic at my victory. I played very consistently throughout but would not have made it without the support from my family and sponsors, GAIL India Ltd. who have been by my side throughout," said the 26-year old after the round.
Simarjeet, the Oil India employee, was perhaps the most consistent of all throughout the championship. Today, too, he played a flawless round with 16 pars and two birdies which came on the sixth and the ninth where he hit his approach to six feet and two feet respectively.
Gagan Verma, who had led the field on the first two days, finished at sole fifth at two-over 286 for the championship. Local champion Jaideep Patwardhan shot a three-over 74 to finish tied sixth with Gaganjeet Bhullar and Vikram Rana.
Scores (after 72 holes): 279_Jasjeet Singh (70,69,70,70); 281_Simarjeet Singh (69,71,72,69); 283_Amardip Malik (71,69,75,68), Ajeetesh Sandhu (73,71,69,70); 286_Gagan Verma (66,73,74,73); 287_Gaganjeet Bhullar (73,69,76,69), Vikram Rana (75,72,70,70), Jaideep Patwardhan (74,72,70,71); 289_Chirag Kumar (72,73,68,76); 292_L.Selvadurai (77,73,74,68), Joseph Chakola (76,72,74,70) Manav Jaini (74,73,72,72), Anitya Chand (71,74,75,72); 294_AS Lehal (71,74,75,73).
