Forest Hill Golf Resort, District SAS Nagar, Punjab, 04-09-2014
Gulfam registers maiden win with two-shot triumph at Forest Hill
Delhi’s Gulfam registered his maiden professional win with a two-shot triumph at the Forest Hill Golf Resort in SAS Nagar district of Punjab. Gulfam posted a one-over-71 in the third and final round to total one-over-211 at the fourth event of the 2014 PGTI Feeder Tour season. Second position was shared by Patna’s Md Nawab, Delhi’s Karan Vasudeva, Chandigarh golfers Ranjit Singh and K Raghav Bhandari and Lucknow’s Sanjeev Kumar, all of whom finished with matching totals of three-over-213.
Gulfam (67-73-71), who was overnight joint second, had a forgettable start to the day as he found the bushes on the first and therefore dropped a double-bogey. The 47-year-old seasoned campaigner recovered well thereafter as he landed it within a couple of feet on the sixth and ninth for birdies. Gulfam, elder brother of 2012 Rolex Player of the Year Shamim Khan, played a steady round despite the windy conditions. He finally cruised to a two-shot win after two bogeys and a birdie on the back-nine.
Gulfam said, “I’m delighted with my first ever victory. I played some solid golf through the week. I was in trouble after the double-bogey on the first hole in round three but I was determined to fight it out in the tough conditions. I came back well with a couple of birdies and stuck to my task to close it out at the end. This win has taken me from fifth to second place on the Feeder Tour Order of Merit and raised my hopes of finishing on top of the rankings in order to earn exemption on the PGTI next year.”
Gulfam, who now has earnings of Rs. 1,48,500 on the 2014 Feeder Tour season, trails the Order of Merit leader Akshay Sharma of Chandigarh by just over Rs. 40,000, with two events remaining in the season.
Md Nawab’s (73-71-69) one-under-69 was the best score of the day. It helped him finish joint second along with Karan Vasudeva (70-71-72), Ranjit Singh (71-71-71), K Raghav Bhandari (69-73-71) and Sanjeev Kumar (71-69-73).
Arshpreeet Thind of Gurgaon, Kolkata’s Samaresh Sardar and Lucknow’s Bhoop Singh were tied seventh at five-over-215.
Round two leader Rajesh Kumar Rawat of Lucknow finished tied 11th at seven-over-217.
Akshay Sharma claimed tied 15th place at nine-over-219 while another Chandigarh golfer Harendra Gupta was a further shot back in tied 17th.
About PGTI:
Formed in 2006, Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) is the recognised official body of professional golf in India. PGTI's objective is to promote professional golf in the country, as well as to give players an opportunity to be involved in the decision making on all aspects of the game. Headed by Mr. Kapil Dev (President), PGTI's governing body comprises leading Indian golf professionals. PGTI currently has over 300 members.
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