Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], December 2 : Teenage rookie Veer Ganapathy shrugged aside the disappointment of missing the cut last week by grabbing the sole lead at the Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) Invitational Ahmedabad with a masterful round of 8-under 64 to take a three-shot lead over special invitee Santiago de la Fuentes of Mexico.
Veer, son of Rahul Ganapathy, a former India world number one who also won professional titles before turning a coach, showed what he has learnt from his dad with a bogey-free round. The long-hitting youngster, who has earlier contended this season, had six birdies and an eagle at Glade One Resort.
Ganapathy missed the cut at the Bharath Classic, sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the IGPL. Instead of being upset, he worked on his game as the others fought for bigger prizes.
"I knew I had the game, and somehow it did not come together at Kensville. This week I was determined, and today all parts of the game worked, and I hope to continue in the same vein," said the youngster, who is also coached by his father, as quoted by an IGPL press release.
Veer birdied the second and then added two more on the sixth and the eighth, and capped it with an eagle two on the Par-4 ninth to turn in 5-under 31. On the back, he birdied the 11th and had back-to-back gains on the 13th and the 14th. He parred the last four, though he could have picked another shot or two. But he also had a couple of good saves. "Overall, a happy day," he added,
Santiago, winner of the 2024 Latin America Amateur Championship, which gave him a spot at three Majors - the Masters, the US Open and the Open, showed why he is seen as a prodigious young star.
The 24-year-old, who studied at Houston, who did well at Bharath Classic also, opened with four birdies in a row, He added two more against one bogey on the back nine for a 67, which had him second.
Sachin Baisoya, who lit up Kensville with a 10-under final day show, was 6-under when he came to the 18th, but he double bogeyed it and fell to 4-under and was tied third with the tall Harshjeet Singh Sethie, who of late is showing signs of his potential, and Mysuru golfer, Yashas Chandra, who had five birdies and a bogey.
Indian golfing legend SSP Chawrasia gave glimpses of his greatness as he was tied fifth with Pune IGPL Pune winner, Kapil Kumar, at 3-under.
Kartik Singh, Filipino Justin Quiban (also an invitee this week), Indian American Manav Shah, and Asian Development Tour winner Karandeep Kochhar were tied eighth with 2-under cards. Also tied at eighth were Aalaap IL and Raghav Chugh with scores of 70 each.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, returning to golf and IGPL after a break to attend to family matter, landed a hole-in-one on the Par-3 12th. He had three bogeys on the front nine, but two birdies and an ace saw him finish a 1-under and in a tie for 14th place with IGPL Jamshedpur winner, Pukhraj Singh Gill.
Also tied at 14th was Ridhima Dilawari, who was the top woman player on Day One with 1-under 71 as only 16 players finished under par for the day.
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