Chandigarh, Sep 12 : An early eagle and a late birdie plus smart course management drawn from his experience of almost two decades, saw Gaganjeet Bhullar card a 2-under 70 final round and create history as he became the first IGPL Invitational Champion.

Bhullar, winner of 11 Asian Tour titles, the most by an Indian, and an icon player in the IGPL shot three great rounds of 70-71-70 for a 5-under total and won by two shots over the consistent M Dharma at the Chandigarh Golf Club.

The man, who has won on many Tours, immediately remarked, 'This one is for the history books.' Indeed, there will be many more IGPL champions in the coming weeks, but Bhullar will always be the first.

Bhullar took home a whopping cheque of R. 22.50 lakhs from the prize purse of Rs. 1.5 crores. Dharma bagged Rs, 15 lakhs and the threesome of Veer Ganapathy, Kartik Sharma and Shaurya Binu earned around Rs. 8.7 lakh each.

Bhullar was challenged hard by Dharma, young Ganapathy and Binu. Dharma shot 70-75-68 to finish sole second and he gave Bhullar a tough fight with a 5-under back nine, but his two bogeys on the front nine cost him dearly.

Left-handed debutant Ganapathy (72-72-70), son of former pro and now coach, Rahul Ganapathy, was tied for third alongside another southpaw, Kartik Sharma (73-73-68) who produced a 4-under 68, the equal best round of the tournament, and Binu (69-72-73), finished in a tie for third. Binu had held at least a share of the lead for the first 36 holes

Another young player, Neil Jolly and the experienced Kapil Kumar were tied for sixth at 1-under for the week as only seven players came under par on a challenging course.

Three players, Dharma, Kartik and Sunhit Bishnoi (75-73-68 for 8th place) produced 68s on a course that was difficult to score after the rains pounded in the few weeks before the event. Yet the Chandigarh Golf Club managed to get it in shape for the Rs. 1.5 crore event.

Kartik Singh, who at various stages this week indicated that he could be the next big star, finally finished Tied ninth alongside Aman Raj, Sanju Kumar, Sachin Baisoya, Harendra Gupta and Pukhraj Singh Gill.

Jahanvi Bakshi making a comeback after two years of injuries was the top woman finisher with rounds of 73-71-75 and was 19th in a field of 54 that included 38 men pros, 10 women pros and six amateurs.

Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO of the IGPL, was delighted with the week and said, 'We call the IGPL as the New Era in Golf, and it has arrived.'

He added, 'Gaganjeet is a worthy winner and will inspire many young stars. He is a perfect icon player on the IGPL. We can also be assured that there is a good crop of young stars emerging. I was very happy to see the likes of Veer Ganapathy, Kartik Singh, Krish Chawla, Raghav Chugh and others rise to the occasion. It became even more creditable as Veer, Kartik and Raghav took a big step in their lives by turning pro this week and they showed that they belonged among the professionals.'

He also said, 'And finally a big thank you to the entire IGPL team, which has put together the Tour in so short a time and the Chandigarh Golf for the support they gave us.'

Bhullar, who opened with a bogey, quickly more than made up with an eagle soon after. A string of pars followed and as Dharma and the young brigade chased him, he stayed steady and added a late birdie on the 17th to seal the issue. Bhullar, who will also play next week in the second IGPL event before leaving for the International Series outside India, was happy with his game and thrilled with the tournament.

He said, 'I am proud and thrilled to have created history by becoming the first-ever IGPL Tour. It is a new chapter in Indian golf, and I am proud to be part of it. 'The Tour has been created with a lot of care and brings together women pros, young pros and amateurs onto the same platform as the top pros. This will help them and hopefully I can inspire some of these youngsters, just like Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal and other seniors inspired me.'

He added, 'Right now, we have very few Indians on Asian Tour with a Tour card, and I am one of them. There was a time when we had more than a dozen Indians and a lot of wins came India's way. I hope the new stars like Veer Ganapathy, Kartik Singh, Krish Chawla and even Shaurya Binu, and others we saw this week will soon get onto the Asian Tour. It's always great to win, that's what we pros play for, but to get these young ones to fly the Indian flag high is my goal and a big motivation.'

Ganapathy, who was 3-under for the tournament at the 18th tee, was in the mix all through, was all set for a sole second. He was sitting on an 8-foot birdie on the 18th, but he three putted and it became a bogey and he fell to tied third.

Yet, the big-built young star said, 'I had a blast this week. Big bold golf, aggressive play with no cut and I will take all the positives from this first week as a pro. I am looking forward to all the other IGPL events.'

Dharma was happy to be part of IGPL and said, 'It was great playing the event and was happy with the way the players were taken care of.'

The next IGPL event will be held at the Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida, from September 17 to 19, 2025

/IANS