PANCHKULA (HARYANA), NOV 29 : Bangladesh’s Mohd. Siddikur Rahman won the HUDA-GTPL-Unitech Haryana Open after returning a card of 71 in the final round at the 72 par Haryana Golf Club course here on Saturday. The 24-year-old thus registered his second win on the PGTI and also managed to jump from 16th to 12th on the PGTI Order of Merit. He totaled five under 283, having shot 73, 70 and 69 in the previous three rounds. He received a pay cheque of Rs 323300.
Rahul Ganapathy, C Muniyappa, Vikrant Chopra and Ajeetesh Sandhu finished joint runners-up at four under 284. He got a purse of Rs 132800.
Siddikur, who won his first PGTI event at Pune in September, began with a birdie on the first to become the sole leader. Ganapathy then overtook him on the sixth hole. Rahman dropped further back when he bogeyed the seventh, where he missed a three feet putt for par. The Bangladesh golfer recovered some ground by sinking a birdie on the eighth. His third shot from 50 yards out on the eighth landed 6 inches short of the pin. Rahman then had a birdie-bogey on the 15th and 16th. He finally held his nerve on the 18th by making par to come home the winner by one stroke even as Ganapathy dropped three shots on the last two holes.
Rahman said, "It feels great to win my second title on the PGTI. I had planned to play my normal game during the fourth round, just like I had done in round three. I think my win in Pune helped me grow in confidence. This win will now spur me on to achieve greater heights."
He added, "The birdie on the eighth was particularly satisfying as my third shot just came up 6 inches short of the pin. The only blemish of the day was the three-putt from 15 feet on the 16th."
Rahul Ganapathy (68, 74, 70, 72) made birdies on the fifth and sixth to become the sole leader. He further consolidated on his lead with two more birdies on the 11th and 12th. Ganapathy held onto the lead till the 17th despite dropping bogeys on the 14th and 17th. However, the double bogey on the 18th pushed him into tied second place.
Vikrant Chopra (74, 74, 68, 68), C Muniyappa (73, 70, 71, 70), and Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu (71, 73, 70, 70) joined Ganapathy in tied second place with identical totals of four under 284.
Gaganjeet Bhullar and Vivek Bhandari were a further stroke behind in tied sixth. Each of them got Rs 66302.
Mukesh Kumar and the Chandigarh duo of Gurbaaz Mann and Randhir Singh Ghotra finished tied ninth at one under 287. Their earnings from this tournament was Rs 41987 each. Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta (Rs 33900) was tied 12th at even par 288.