Gurugram, March 13 (IANS) Lucknow’s Rajesh Kumar Gautam, a rookie on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) who is currently serving in the Indian Army, came up with a steady final round performance of even-par 72 to register a two-shot win in the PGTI NexGen Gurugram 2025 at the Golden Greens Golf & Polo Club here on Thursday.
Rajesh Kumar Gautam ended with a total of nine-under 207 in the season-opener for the NexGen series.
The 35-year-old Rajesh (69-66-72), the overnight leader by three shots, made five birdies and five bogeys on Thursday to hang on to his lead and record his first professional win. Rajesh picked up the winning cheque worth INR 2,54,300 to lead the PGTI NEXGEN Order of Merit.
Chandigarh’s Rajiv Kumar Jatiwal (65-73-71) posted a 71 in the third and last round to finish runner-up at seven-under 209.
Sourav Choudhary (71-72-68) of Mhow carded the third day’s best score of 68 to rise eight spots on the leaderboard and finish third at five-under 211.
Rajesh Kumar Gautam produced four birdies and three bogeys on the front nine on Thursday which included a great chip from the bunker on the ninth that set up a tap-in birdie. On the back nine, Rajesh added another birdie and two bogeys. He landed it within three to four feet of the flag throughout the day.
“Even though I was not in good driving form and couldn’t execute my plans of hitting maximum regulations today, I managed to stay ahead thanks to some accurate iron shots and putting. I was regularly landing my shots close to the flags. It’s great to win in only my second start after turning professional. This gives me a lot of confidence going ahead,” Rajesh said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Rajesh Kumar followed up his first round of three-under 69 with an even better six-under 66 to surge ahead by three shots at a total of nine-under 135 after round two. The 35-year-old Rajesh (69-66), who made six birdies without dropping any shot on Wednesday, jumped two spots from his overnight tied third position.
The second event of the three-event season will be PGTI NexGen Kapurthala which will be played from March 18 to 20 at the RCF Golf Club in Kapurthala. The third event of the season, Phillaur Open will be played from March 25 to 27 at the Ranjitgarh Golf Club in Phillaur.
The top 60 players from the 2024 PGTI Order of Merit are not eligible to play on the NexGen Tour in 2025. The winner of this year’s NexGen Order of Merit will earn an exemption on the main tour (PGTI) for the 2026 season.
–IANS
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