Rajasthan Regals captain Ajeetesh Sandhu (left) and his fourballs partner Michele Ortolani played a critical role in therir team’s entry into the 72 The League finale.
By Rahul Banerji
UP Prometheans and Rajasthan Regals scripted a cliff-hanger end to the league stage of the DP World PGTI 72 The League at the Classic Golf and Country Club near Manesar on Tuesday.
The two teams took very different routes into Friday’s title playoff of the event powered by IndusInd Bank that will be held at the Qutab Golf Course in New Delhi.
Drawn to play in the fifth and final round of the league, UP picked up 10 out of the available 15 points off Rajasthan and comfortably ensure a table-top finish with 45 points.
The Regals had to battle till the very last to take one win and a half against the rampaging Prometheans, and then lean on countback mathematics to get the better of the Charminar Champions.
The Hyderabad team beat Mumbai Aces 12-3 and looked to have sealed a finals place with a blitzkrieg performance, sweeping the singles and fourballs and only dropping the foursomes.
Their total of 43 points, however, was not enough for them to qualify for Friday’s title shootout.
Rude shock
Rajasthan were in cruise mode when they appeared to have reached safety in their final fourball match after 15 holes.
That meant Dhruv Sheoran and Yuvraj Singh needed to just halve one of the remaining holes against Abhinav Lohan and Manoj S. to edge out Hyderabad who set the clubhouse lead on 43 points.
However, Manoj turned the game on its head in stunning fashion.
On hole 16, the 17-year-old from Bangalore chipped-in for a birdie to keep the match alive, and then hit a peach of a second shot to three feet from 157 yards for another birdie and win 17.
On 18, Manoj made a birdie from the bunker to steal an improbable half.
The Regals looked downcast, because they had fallen to a tie for second place with Charminar, and result went into a countback.
The first metric was on the number of matches won, which was tied again as both teams had won 13 matches in their five rounds.
It was then decided on the basis of number of holes won, tilting the result in Rajasthan’s favour, as they were 42-up against Charminar’s 35-up.
Shaurya Bhattacharya, captain of the favoured UP Prometheans, on his way to victory in Friday’s singles against Chikkarangappa S. of the Regals at the Classic Golf and Country Club.
Roller-coaster run
Rajasthan captain Ajeetesh Sandhu, whose 8&6 win alongside Michele Ortolani in the foursomes against Mumbai Aces earlier played a critical role, said: “It was an absolute rollercoaster.
“I think when you play individually, you’re always in control of what’s going on.
“But as a team, there’s so much responsibility for others, and everyone gives it their best and it’s just a different feeling to kind of pull through for the team.
“It’s an amazing feeling now that we are through.”
Manoj, who ensured Prometheans will go into the final as the top team, said, “Both teams played awesome golf today. No one gave up on any hole. But the last three holes were just fantastic. I am so happy for the team.”
UP captain Shaurya Bhattacharya was delighted with the late win.
“It was really interesting because it just went down the wire,” said Bhattacharya.
“We won our singles and foursomes in the beginning, so we were assured that we would be through to the finals.
“But the way Manoj and Abhinav pulled it off after being three down, three to play, it was really amazing. It just showed a lot of resilience and how hungry we were as a team.”
Charminar Champions, Naya Raipur, Mumbai Aces and Kolkata Classics will play for the plate.
Final league standings
UP Prometheans – 45 points
Rajasthan Regals – 43 points
Charminar Champions – 43 points
Nava Raipur – 35 points
Mumbai Aces – 27 points
Kolkata Classics – 21 points
(Rajasthan Regal finished second on countback against Charminar Champions)
Round 5 results
Charminar Champions 12, Mumbai Aces 3
Singles: Dominic Piccirillobeat Aniket Sawant 4&3; Anshul Patel beat Kushal Singh 4&3
Fourballs: Omprakash Chouhan/Manu Gandas beat Veer Ahlawat/Divyanshu Bajaj 3&2; Shubham Jaglan/Anshul Kabthiyalbeat Saptak Talwar/Declan Kenny 2&1
Foursomes: Marvin Kibirige/Sydney Joseph Wemba lost to Kartik Singh/Pritish Singh Karayat 3&2
Naya Raipur 4, Kolkata Classics 10
Singles: Vikrant Chopra lost to Viraj Madappa 1-up; Shivendra Singh Sisodiabeat Aryav Shah 7&6
Fourballs: Honey Baisoya/Joysurjo Dey lost to Rashid Khan/Mukesh Kumar 4&3; Amardeep Singh Malik/Anant Singh Ahlawat halved with Karan Verma/Ajay Baisoya
Foursomes:: Jhared Hack/Stepan Danek lost to Mithun Perera/Khalin Joshi 1-up
Rajasthan Regals 4, UP Prometheans 10
Singles: Chikkarangappa S. lost to Shaurya Bhattacharya 2&1; Ayaan Gupta lost to Arjun Prasad 5&4
Fourballs: Ajeetesh Sandhu/Michele Ortolani beat Gaurav Pratap Singh/Arjun Sharma 2&1; Dhruv Sheoran/Yuvraj Singh halved with Abhinav Lohan/Manoj S.
Foursomes: Jairaj Singh Sandhu/Akshay Sharma lost to Joshua Seale/Pranav Mardikar 3&1
Also read: Regals hold a slim edge as race for final heats up at 72 The League
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