Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Shaurya Bhattacharya of Delhi stamped his authority with an error-free final round of six-under 63 to register a resounding five-shot victory with a total of 27-under 249 at the INR 1 crore Chhattisgarh Open 2025 at the Fairway Golf & Lake Resort here on Friday. Shaurya Bhattacharya (64-61-61-63), the overnight leader by five shots, drove home the advantage on Friday to record his second professional win.
The 22-year-old Bhattacharya, who was the PGTI Emerging Player of the Year in 2024, dropped just one bogey during the tournament. He picked up the winning cheque worth INR 15 lakh that catapulted him from 59th to the second position in the PGTI Order of Merit Ranking.
Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya (67-62-64-61) fired the last day’s best score of 61 to climb five spots and claim the runner-up position at 22-under 254 at the Par-69 course. Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja (66-63-62-64) posted a 64 in round four to secure third place at 21-under 255.
Bhattacharya, a winner in his rookie season on the PGTI last year, had a slow start to the day as he made pars on the first seven holes. Shaurya then picked up the pace by capitalising on the three Par-5s, the eighth, 11th, and 13th, with birdies on the first two and an eagle on the last. He also sank a 12-footer for a birdie on the 12th. Bhattacharya all but sealed the title with his superb tee shot on the Par-3 17th that landed two feet from the pin and gave him his last birdie of the day.
Shaurya said, “It was a solid week for me with just one bogey through the four rounds. Whenever I was out of position or missed the green, I recovered well with ups and downs. Today, it was all about focusing on my breathing and staying in the present.
“I was striking it well through the week, so that gave me a lot of confidence at the start of the final day. The plan was to attack the flags on day four since it is a scoring course. I gave myself a target of three to four under for the day as I knew that would be good enough to win. I’m glad that I managed to do even better,” he added.
Baisoya made an eagle, seven birdies, and a bogey in round four to end the week as the runner-up. Sachin’s runner-up cheque of INR 10 lakh helped him jump from 20th to third place in the PGTI Ranking.
As dusk settled on the course, PGTI President Kapil Dev hailed the event as a great opportunity to encourage young golfers.
PGTI CEO Amandeep Johl talked about how the idea of getting Chhattisgarh onto the PGTI Tour germinated. He said it was the dream of Arun Sao, deputy chief minister of Chhattisgarh, and took firm shape when he met Kapil Dev in Delhi and discussed the idea of letting people know about the facilities here and how golf could be played in Raipur.
“Chhattisgarh has an abundance of natural beauty and wildlife, and the world does not know that. We want to promote Chhattisgarh state through golf, and that’s why we brought Chhattisgarh Tourism on board. The golf course here is of international standard. It’s such a beautiful place, with a lake visible and winds that make playing golf a challenge here,” said Johl, expressing happiness that the first event in Chhattisgarh was a grand success.
Rahul Mehta, Owner, Victorious Choice, told IANS that Raipur was presented as the best example of ‘Viksit Bharat’ to the golf community two months back and it would be great to have a golf tournament in Raipur.
“The thing that has happened in this game today is an example for all youngsters in the country. The way the players have braved the heat and produced some great scores and superb comebacks is an example for everyone. In Test cricket, the players start losing stream on the fifth and final day, but today, on the final day, the golfers were as energetic as they were on the first day of the competition. That’s the impact of Raipur weather on them,” said Rahul Mehta.
He said earlier the potential of Chhattisgarh to organise events of this stature, which has attracted around 50-odd golfers from India and abroad, was not exploited. There should be more such events in Chhattisgarh so that people will realise the full potential of the state.
(IANS)
