Nuh, March 2 (IANS) The top two teams – UP Prometheans and Rajasthan Regals – could not separate themselves from the rest of the field on the moving day at the DP World PGTI’s 72 The League. It set up a cracking final round on Tuesday in the new pathbreaking all-professional golf league here at the Classic Golf & Country Club, with four teams in contention for a spot in the finals.
On Monday, both Rajasthan and UP started the day on 32 points. However, in their match against a resurgent Mumbai Aces, UP could garner only three points and advanced to 35 total points.
Regals, on the other hand, won both their singles earlier in the day and then added a half when their in-form pairing of Chikkarangappa S. and Dhruv Sheoran held Jhared Hack and Stepan Danek to reach 39 points. The two teams are now scheduled to play each other in the final-round match.
Nava Raipur and Charminar Champions also have a good chance of qualifying for the final, with both moving to 31 points, just four behind Prometheans.
Rajasthan lost the other two matches against Raipur, with DP World PGTI Tour Order of Merit leader Honey Baisoya making six birdies and an eagle in his first 12 holes of fourballs playing alongside his captain, Amardeep Singh Malik. They beat K. Prabagaran and Michele Ortolani 4&3.
Vikrant Chopra and Shivendra Singh Sisodia lodged the day’s best win, a 5&3 result over Ayaan Gupta and Aryaman Mohan in foursomes. Rajasthan captain Ajeetesh Sandhu, who won his singles, said: “It would have been nice to get a bit more separation, but it’s always good to go into the final round as a leader.
“It just means we will have to play another good round tomorrow to make sure we are in the top two. Our hands get a bit tied in the final round because we will have to play some players who haven’t played one of the three formats that are being used.”
Baisoya said he and his captain, Malik, decided to adopt a unique approach before the round. “I told Hammer (Malik) on the first tee that in my mind I was playing a match play against him. I asked him what he would shoot, and he said 7-under. I told him I will beat him with a 10-under! Both Ortolani and Prabagaran played brilliantly; we could have won a lot earlier,” said Baisoya.
UP captain Bhattacharya drained a 20-footer for birdie to get ahead early, and then converted a critical 30-footer birdie on the 16th hole to go 2-up against Mumbai captain Veer Ahlawat, and maintained the difference after 17 holes.
“Not the day we wanted, but better now than having a bad round tomorrow, or in the final. I am happy with how I played today and did make a few good, long putts. But we will have to play much better tomorrow against Rajasthan as a team,” said Bhattacharya.
With Chikka and Sheoran halving their match on Monday, Anant Singh Ahlawat of Nava Raipur is now the only unbeaten man in the field. Ahlawat was rested by the Raipur team on Monday.
In the final match that needed to be suspended in the opening round on February 24 because of darkness, Mumbai Aces and Nava Raipur finished the four-ball match with Mumbai winning the hole and halving the match.
The final round of the league stage will be played on Tuesday, March 3, at Classic Golf & Country Club. Apart from the Rajasthan-UP match, Charminar Champions will take on Mumbai Aces, while Nava Raipur will battle against bottom-of-the-standings Kolkata Classics.
League standings after the 4th round:
Rajasthan Regals – 39 points
UP Prometheans – 35 points
Nava Raipur – 31 points
Charminar Champions – 31 points
Mumbai Aces – 24 points
Kolkata Classics – 11 points
–IANS
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