On Friday, the final day of the PGTI Players Championship witnessed tough scoring conditions that limited several of the top players chasing season opening glory. All contenders shototing over par except for the winner Honey Baisoya. Even Honey had to overcome his own trials through the course of his round but his birdie blitz at the end ensured a comfortable four shot victory which must have actually felt like a much closer finish.
The likes of Shankar Das who is a PGTI Order of Merit chapion, Shamim Khan who has won the Rolex rankings a few times and Ajeetesh Sandhu, a previous winner on the PGTI and early contender on Friday, faltered towards the end of their rounds to make the job easier for Honey. Barring any huge errors, it was Honey’s title after the others finishing ahead of him started letting up.
Honey Baisoya, as predicted 2nd on the power rankings by Sportseeda, was the right man to put your money on at the start of the week. He went on to record his biggest win so far on tour with two experienced campaigners in Shamim and Shankar not allowing him to rest easy until the end. From the Power rankings drafted at the beginning of the week, Shamim Khan finished second and Shankar Das in T-3 to signal their intent for the tournaments to come in the near future with a close eye on the Hero Indian Open in March.
Although, Shankar Das couldn’t capitalise on his good form of 3 days, Shankar and Shamim maintained a stronghold at the top through the week with Honey entering the fray only on the third day.
No freakishly low scores were seen at any poin throughout the week where the course was playing hard and coupled with soaring winds and early season rust, the players found a stern test awaiting them when they showed up on the first tee every morning.
Some would argue that the course’s challenge was toned down with preferred lies on the fairway as the ball in hand is invariably an advantage for the players with guaranteed clean lies. Despite tha, with the greens being tricky to read for a few players and most players struggling to hole a string of putts in any round, the golf course was setup with one eye on keeping the scoring on a tight rope.
The players and the PGTI were vocal of the support they received from Noida Golf Course throughout the week with the Greens committee putting in every effort to offer the best course thye could put together for the players for the week. Noida Golf Course is a testing venue and will hope to have more events in the future with PGTI showing signs of growing into an even bigger tour with a bigger playing schedule.
The week was full of enthralling golf for the fans with the many near misses and agony of top players in contention offering a timely reminder that Golf can be cruel and the unexpected is only one shot away at all times. It was a good mix of old and new established players vying for the title at the event.
It defininitely makes for an exciting prospect for the upcoming tournaments in 2017 with some players picking up right where they left off at the end of last season.
Noida Golf course and the Players Championship offered the first taste of competition to the rookies as well as those coming of an off season. A course which rewards good play is always a good start to the season and all participating players got a good baseline of where they stand heading in to the new season.
Next up is the Golconda Masters beginning on the 17th February at Hyderabad Golf course. The course will offer a different type of challenge to the players as the 2017 PGTI season begins to gather pace. A host of past champions will be in the field and they will fancy their chances once again as the course requires a player to plot his way aroud rather than hit it long off the tee and power around.
Honey Baisoya’s comments on winning and the year of 2017 in prospect
Speaking after his tournament winning final round, Honey Baisoya was elated to get acoss the line with some of the veterans of the tour firmly o his tail.
Round Statistics:
1st - 3rd hole – Pars
4th hole – Birdie from 20 feet
5th hole – Bogey
7th hole – bogey
8th hole – Birdie; up and down from the bunker with a converted 15 footer
13th hole – Found the right rough off the tee, left it short of the green with the second shot, sand wedge topped over from the edgeof the green, chip and putt from there for a bogey
14th hole – Drove it to the center of the fairway, second shot to 10 feet, 1st putt missed for Eagle for a 2 – putt Birdie
15th hole – Drive in the center fairway, approach shot to 10 feet with a lob wedge, left to right uphil putt converted for third Birdie on the trot
17th hole – Drive to left rough, second shot found the greenside bunker, Up and down from the sand with a 6 footer for Birdie
18th hole – Drive to the first – cut of the right rough, approach shot using a sand wedge to 15 feet, up hill putt converted to lift the trophy.
I drained some putts down the stretch and even across the week. I thought I was in trouble on the 12th hole and staring down a double – bogey but I got lucky as it turned out to be much better than I thought. My tee shot came out miles right off my target line and I thought I would be left with no shot but fortunately I managed to make a good recovery and walk way with par.
The course setup was tough today with some flags placed in enticing positions on the green but still in tricky spots. I feel the pressure under the gun plus the wind made it a tough day out there but I quite enjoyed the challenge.
The role of my two wins last season was huge today. You know, I was 7 shots off the pace after 2 days in Shillong where I won my first event as a pro and what I learnt from that victory was that as long as I limit the errors and not go for perfection, no deficit is too large.
Finding myself 7 behind in Shillong on the 3rd day of the event after 9 holes, I was a bit rattled but today those wins kept me calm under pressure. The biggest difference was not losing hope even when I fell 1-2 shots behind. Even when I won by seven shots in Digboi last year, I was constantly telling myself that anyone can catch me at any point if they get on a run. A margin of 2 or 3 shots is not much coming down the stretch and anyone can capitalise even if you make one small mistake.
Noida Golf course has been a special course for me and this was the best condition I've ever played it in. It’s a tough course which throws off the best of the best players But I have mostly played well here.
Also Read: 5 Rookies to watch out for on the Professional Golf Tour of India in 2017
It’s always to win the season-opening event and get off the mark in style. I wasn't feeling very good last week with where my game was and even my attitude. Me and my father were both dissappointed in the way I was playing and it feels good to put those worries to bed with this win.
This win is different from my last two wins as I was a part of the final pairing with two stalwarts of the PGTI. My mindset in the beginning and even after taking the lead during the round was quite up and down. There were moments where I felt the pressure and then there were opposite moments where I felt relaxed. The positive I take from this is that at no point I found myself fighting my nerves or trying to get myself going. I wasn’t too adverse in either way and generally stayed composed.
after you got the lead- what strategy-tried to hit my target-dicussion between me and my caddie trying to set mini targets for 4-5 holes-
I said at the start of the week that I will go in with an aggressive approach and I maintained that today and I could say I was even more aggressive today than the rest of the week. I hit a lot of drivers today and wasn’t afraid to pull it out wherever a driver could possibly be used.
After I got the lead today, I was staying foussed on my target for the day and my caddie did a good job of keeping me in it by setting mini targets for every 4-5 holes for me. The communication with my caddie was positive all day and we kept backing ourselves to hit our number.
I started as an underdog this week and slowly progresssed up the leaderboard through the week. My gae was up and down the first two days and when I found my self sitting at 1 over – par on Day 1 after 6 holes, I have to admit I was pretty tensed about dropping another shot and the danger of falling below the cut line was looming.
My discussion with my caddie at that point was again very important to keep our hopes alive for the week. We said we’ll try and shoot 1 under for the day but I managed to shoot 2 under which got me believing.
This win was the toughest to secure as there were big players who have won numerous times playing with me. I knew any one could comeback anytime and Shamim Khan has won the Order of Merit a few times so it’s special.
I wasn’t able to prepare this off season as I had injured a finger when I was on my way back from Kolkatta at the end of the McLeod Russel Tour Championship last season. I couldn't play for two weeks and when I shot a 4 under-par score in my first round of the Asian tour Q-School, I was pleasantly surprised.
However, the impact of not playing caught up with me after that and I ended up missing the half-way cut for the event. So, I can only say that I am surprised with this win as I wasn’t hitting it well for the last 2-3 weeks. I was facing a few ball striking issues and I didn’t even put in any extra preparaiton so much so that I played hurriedly and wasn’t feeling physically well even inthe one prac round I played. I was just tired from my Asian tour event in Bangladesh.
This season will see increased competition on tour. Top amateurs like Viraj Madappa who has played in the USA and Karandeep Kochhar who is already a winner on the PGTI have turned professional and the future is in good hands. They will quickly understand that professional golf is a little different as a 1 shot lead is not enough unlike amateur golf and 4-5 players are ready to jump on the slightest mistake you make.
They will obviously bring a increased level of perfromance to the tour and it will help us in raising our level. They will benefit by gaining experience from playing with us, so it’s a win-win situation for Indian golf.
I haven’t set any goals so far as I wasn’t in a position to do so not havving played/practiced enough. Now, I will go back and reassess as I am feeling good about my game. I will set out to achieve my goal of playing on the Asian Tour and maybe try to win the Order of Merit on the PGTI this season.
