Pukhraj Singh Gill celebrates his playoff victory at the ADT Players Championship presented by The R&A in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday. Image courtesy asiantour.com.
By Rahul Banerji
Pukhraj Singh Gill won his maiden Asian Development Tour title after coming through a three-way playoff at Kuala Lumpur’s Saujana Golf and Country Club on Saturday.
Gill, 29, led or co-led the event right from the start and still needed to overcome a two-shot deficit over the last two holes to set up a playoff at the ADT Players Championship presented by The R&A.
Gill (72), Thai teenager Thanawin Lee and Sean Ramos of the Philippines all totalled 13 under par before the Indian came through on the second extra hole with a six-foot putt coming out of a greenside bunker to pick up a $19,250 cheque.
Teenager Kartik Singh shot the day’s low round of 65 to share 30th place while Khalin Joshi (77) was T46.
“It took a long time coming,” Gill said later. “This feels surreal. I think it’s going to take a while to sink in, but I’m just so pumped right now.
“It’s been a great week in Malaysia. I was very happy with the course design, playing it for the first time – it just really suits my eye, I am glad I could play the game I did.
“I made it a lot more ‘interesting’ than I would have liked to towards the end. And to have won after that I feel I am on Cloud Nine. It is going to take some time to sink in. But it is only onwards and upwards from here.”
Purple patch
It was Gill’s first international title, and it came within months of his maiden pro title on the 2025 IGPL Tour.
He shared the lead after round one, was the sole leader by two after two rounds and held a one-shot advantage after the third round.
Leading Ramos by one on Saturday, Gill Picked up three birdies over his first four holes, extending his advantage to five shots.
However, bogies on six and nine and some great play by Ramos and Lee saw his advantage cut to one stroke.
The tense battle went down to the wire with Lee taking the lead on 12, Gill responding on 13 and then dropping three shots in a row but neither Lee (68) nor Ramos (71) could pull away.
On 18, Lee bogeyed to give away his one-shot lead while Ramos and Gill made pars to draw level and force extra holes.
Gill is the second Indian Golf Premier League player to find success on the Asian Development Tour after Karandeep Kochhar who won in Egypt.
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