Veer Ahlawat stood T-4th after 54 holes but a final round 73 pushed him down for a T-13th finish
16 Indians made the cut into the final two rounds out of 32 that started Rd 1; which is double the number making the cut in the previous two editions of the Hero Indian Open ( 2019 had 8 making the cut & 2018 had only 7). Certainly this shows that the depth of talent has improved in India which has clearly been demonstrated by the better winning scores on the PGTI in the past two years. However after the promise of 4 Indians in the top 10 in Rd 1, no home player ended up in the top 10 when 72 holes were completed.
The absence of India’s leading player, Anirban Lahiri from the field was felt. Due to Lahiri signing with LIV and the tussle with the European Tour, Lahiri stayed away from his National Open – a real loss.
26-year-olds Shubhankar Sharma and Veer Ahlawat, who was playing at his home course of DLF Golf & CC, finished tied 13th at 4-under 284 and were the leading Indians. Angad Cheema who was on the leaderboard most of Rd 3 and 4 ended disastrously with a quadruple bogey on the final hole to drop to 20th alongside Honey Baisoya.
Sharma started with a 68 and was tied for fourth after his opening round but poor rounds on Friday and Saturday dropped him down the field. His 68 again on Sunday moved him up 15 spots and into a tie for 13th although he missed a birdie putt on 18th that would have earned him a top-10 finish.
View this post on Instagram
Ahlawat was tied for fourth after 54 holes but shot a final round 73 to fall out of the top-10.
Both players earned US$ 29,000 (₹24 lacs) and it is reported that for the first time, 50% of the Indian Open prize money won will count towards the PGTI rankings. This is sure sign of broadening the horizons of PGTI – a welcome change.
Other Indians who made the cut were:
Yuvraj Sandhu – 70-71-77-70 (even-par 288) for T-25th
Manu Gandas – 70-73-73-74 (2-over 290) for T-32nd
Sachin Baisoya – 75-69-72-75 (3-over 291) for T-37th
Chikkarangappa S. – 75-69-75-72 (3-over 291) for T-37th
Kartik Sharma – 74-73-70-75 (4-over 292) for T-42nd
Gaganjeet Bhullar – 75-73-68-77 (5-over 293) for T-44th
S.S.P. Chawrasia – 75-73-71-75 (6-over 294) for T-48th
Shiv Kapur – 75-73-69-77 (6-over 294) for T-48th
Karandeep Kochhar – 77-70-74-74 (7-over 295) for T-54th
Yashas Chandra – 71-71-73-80 (7-over 295) for T-54th
Khalin Joshi – 72-75-79-78 (16-over 304) for 64th
M Dharma – 70-78-75-82 (17-over 305) for 65th
Credits:-
Photo – DPWTR