Baisoya clinches IndianOil Servo Masters Golf title

Digboi (Assam), Nov 19 (IANS) Delhis Honey Baisoya made it back-to-back wins on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) after marching to a comfortable nine-stroke triumph at the IndianOil Servo Masters Golf here on Saturday.

Baisoya posted a clinical two-under 70 in the final round to end up with a winning tournament total of 20-under 268. The 20-year-old, who won in Shillong last week, thus swept the north-eastern leg of PGTI's 2016 season.

Delhi's Kapil Kumar, Baisoya's cousin, was a distant runner-up at the Rs. 35 lakh ($51,349.8) event after his last round of one-over-73 took his four-day tally to 11-under 277 at the Digboi Golf Links.

Baisoya (67-67-64-70), the overnight leader by six shots, was in total control in the fourth round despite his early bogeys on the first and fourth holes.

The birdie from 15 feet on the seventh hole set the stage for Baisoya's win. An aggressive drive on the 12th earned him another shot before his decisive hat-trick of birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th.

Baisoya birdied the 14th after making eagles on it in the first three rounds. He was thus seven-under for the week on his favourite hole. He finally closed the tournament with a bogey on the 18th to win by nine shots.

He bagged the winner's cheque of Rs. 5,25,000 ($7,702.4) and as a result moved up from fifth place to second position in the Rolex Ranking. His earnings for the season stand at Rs. 23,90,145 ($35,066.7). Bengaluru's S. Chikka continues to lead the rankings with season's earnings of Rs. 24,06,640 ($35,308.7).

Baisoya said in a release: "It's terrific to win two events in two weeks. This phase is all the more special because I've finally achieved success after struggling for the first three years after turning professional.

"It's not only the wins but also the good scores that I've been shooting for the past few weeks that have boosted my confidence."

Baisoya has now joined Ashok Kumar as the only other player to win his first two titles on the PGTI in consecutive events. The other golfers who have back-to-back wins on the PGTI (but not their first two wins) are Gaganjeet Bhullar, Shamim Khan, Anirban Lahiri and Mithun Perera.

The 24-year-old Kapil Kumar (66-69-69-73) couldn't take advantage of cousin Baisoya's early errors as he made three birdies and three bogeys on the front-nine to make the turn at even-par. Kapil, who was striking it well on Saturday, added a lone birdie on the back-nine at the expense of two bogeys to end up with a 73.

Bengaluru's Udayan Mane shot a 69 in round four to take the third place at seven-under 281. Mukesh Kumar (71) of Mhow was a further stroke back in the fourth place.

Last year's champion Shankar Das of Kolkata grabbed a share of fifth place along with Gurugram's Manu Gandas and Jamshedpur's Karan Taunk at four-under 284 total.

--IANS

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