Calance Open Golf: Tapendra Ghai Ends Long Wait For Second Title With Tenacious 70

Calance Open golf: Tapendra Ghai ends long wait for second title with tenacious 70 (Image Source: IANS)

Qutab Golf Course: Gurugram’s Tapendra Ghai hung on to his lead with a tenacious even-par 70 on the final day to end his long wait for a second title at the INR 1 crore Calance Open 2025 golf tournament, which ended at the Qutab Golf Course in New Delhi on Friday.

The 29-year-old Ghai (64-67-62-70), the overnight leader by four shots, who won his only previous title on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) in 2018, signed off for the week with a total of 17-under 263 to prevail by one shot. His steady last round featured three birdies and three bogeys. Ghai’s win saw him pick up the winning cheque worth INR 15,00,000 that lifted him from 53rd to 15th position in the PGTI Order of Merit.

The Delhi-based Arjun Prasad (67-68-67-62) shot the lowest score of Day Four, an eight-under 62, to rise 10 places and finish as the joint runner-up at 16-under 264. Arjun picked up a cheque worth INR 7,99,900 that pushed him up from sixth to second position in the PGTI Order of Merit.

Prasad’s season earnings now stand at INR 46,57,749. Arjun, who has posted five top-10s so far this season, trails the PGTI Ranking leader Joshua Berry of England by over INR 7.5 lakh.

Honey Baisoya (64-68-65-67) of Delhi returned a 67 in round four to also end the week as the joint runner-up at 16-under 264.

Kshitij Naveed Kaul, another Delhi-based professional who set the course record of 60 earlier in the week, brought in a card of 64 on Friday to secure fourth place at 15-under 265. Dubai-based Yash Majmudar fired a second straight 63 to claim tied fifth position at 14-under 266 along with Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu (69) and Ludhiana’s Pukhraj Singh Gill (69).

Tapendra Ghai had a slow start on Friday as he bogeyed the second hole. Ghai then bounced back with birdies on the fourth and seventh, sinking a 12-footer on the former. A par-save from 15 feet on the ninth and a chip-in for birdie on the 11th kept Tapendra ahead of the chasing pack led by Arjun Prasad.

With the birdies drying up for him and Tapendra also conceding a bogey on the 14th, he continued to keep his calm and knocked in another crucial par putt from 15 feet on the 15th.

Ghai, also known as ‘Tapy’, dropped a bogey on the closing 18th but still managed to close out the match with a one-shot margin as his nearest rivals Arjun Prasad and Honey Baisoya couldn’t catch on the last two holes.

“It was a day when birdies were not easy to come by for me, so the par-saves kept me in the game and kept my momentum going. I sank a couple of 15-footers for pars that gave me the confidence to finish well and get the job done," Tapendra said.

“Once on the back nine, I told myself if I could play two-under for the day, it would be good enough. The chip-in for birdie on the 11th was a key moment in the day for me.

“I had not been putting well coming into this week, but I was extremely consistent with the putter through this tournament and was feeling good about my game. I just kept on repeating the same routine and tried to make sure I was following the same pattern from start to finish.

“It feels great to win after six years. I would like to thank my coach, Ricky Jaswal, for all his support and guidance,” he added.

“I had not been putting well coming into this week, but I was extremely consistent with the putter through this tournament and was feeling good about my game. I just kept on repeating the same routine and tried to make sure I was following the same pattern from start to finish.

Article Source: IANS