Doha, Qatar, 14-03-2021

Gaganjeet Bhullar posts a tied second at Commercial Bank Qatar Masters

India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar posted an impressive tied second finish at the European Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters after he produced a hard-fought two-under-69 in the final round on Sunday.

Bhullar (67-73-68-69), a 10-time international winner, totaled seven-under-277 for the week to be in a three-way tie for second place along with Italy’s Guido Migliozzi and South Africa’s Darren Fichardt, one shot behind eventual winner Antoine Rozner of France.

Gaganjeet, who came within sniffing distance of his second European Tour win at the US$ 1.5 million event, moved up 89 spots to 43rd place in the Race to Dubai as he took home a prize money cheque worth Euro 84,009. The 32-year-old from Kapurthala is also set to make massive gains in the world rankings from his current 580th position when the updated rankings are released on Monday.

Bhullar made a commendable comeback in round three when his 68 lifted him 28 spots to third place, two shots off the lead.

In the last round, Gaganjeet had a slow start as he sank his first birdie on the fifth hole. He then suffered a setback with a bogey on the 10th. However, on the par-5 13th, Bhullar rallied with a terrific birdie where he flew his second shot over the water and then almost chipped-in for eagle from the greenside bunker.

Gaganjeet then stumbled with a three-putt bogey on the 14th. He did go on to drain two monster putts for birdies on the 16th and 18th from a range of 30 to 50 feet but lost out on a crucial birdie conversion from 10 feet on the 17th that proved decisive since Antoine Rozner sank a 60-footer for birdie on the 18th that set the bar at eight-under-276.     

Bhullar said, “I played really well today. The last two days I was hitting the ball well and giving myself lot of birdie opportunities. Today, I made a great come back on the last few holes. Many congratulations to the winner Antoine Rozner. He played really well since the conditions were very windy and it was tough out there. Nonetheless, I’m still pleased with my performance.”

India’s Shubhankar Sharma took tied 28th place at one-over-285 after a level-par-71 in the last round.