Golf: Yuvraj Sandhu prevails over Udayan Mane in marathon playoff for back-to-back wins

Hosur (Tamil Nadu), Aug 22 (IANS) Yuvraj Sandhu prevailed over Udayan Mane in a marathon playoff that lasted five extra holes to win the Rs 1 crore PGTI Players Championship 2025 played at the Clover Greens Golf Course and Resort near here on Friday.

Both Sandhu, the overnight leader by three shots, and Mane, who was overnight second, ended the regulation 72 holes with identical totals of 28-under 256 that pushed the match into a dramatic playoff. The 28-year-old Chandigarh resident Sandhu (63-67-61-65), also the winner in Mysuru last week, thus registered back-to-back titles and took a commanding lead in the PGTI Order of Merit after picking up the winning cheque worth INR 15 lakh.

Sandhu’s fourth victory of the year, achieved after a solid final round of six-under 65 and a gritty playoff performance, took his season’s earnings to INR 88,67,200, giving him a lead of over INR 25 lakh in the PGTI’s merit list. It was Yuvraj’s second wire-to-wire win in two weeks.

Olympian and Pune-based professional Udayan Mane (67-65-62-62), a 12-time winner and former PGTI Order of Merit champion who was looking to end a four-year-long victory drought, fired a second straight nine-under 62 on Friday to force a playoff. Mane’s runner-up cheque worth INR 10 lakh pushed him up two spots to fourth position in the PGTI’s money list.

Delhi’s Kshitij Naveed Kaul (68-67-64-66) delivered a 66 in the last round to claim the third spot at 19-under 265. The 18-year-old Veer Ganapathy (65) of Bengaluru won the trophy for the best performance by an amateur as he ended tied fourth at a total of 17-under 267.

Three other players who secured tied fourth place were Delhi’s Shaurya Bhattacharya (65), Gurugram’s Kartik Sharma (67), and Nepal’s Subash Tamang (67).

Sandhu, who registered his 13th professional win, was in top form with the driver as he drove the Par-4 greens on three occasions on Friday. Yuvraj also scored birdies on three out of the four Par-5s by landing his second shots on the green, putting on a show with his outstanding ball-striking. He was on a roll on the front nine as he picked up five birdies. However, on the back nine, he mixed four birdies with three bogeys, allowing Udayan Mane a window of opportunity.

Mane, who began the day with birdies on the first four holes, went on to add another five birdies thereafter at the cost of a lone bogey. Mane, trailing Yuvraj through the day, eventually caught up with him when the latter dropped a bogey on the closing 18th that forced a playoff.

After high drama on the first four playoff holes (the Par-3 18th was the playoff hole) where both players made pars, it came down to the decisive fifth extra hole where Yuvraj came up with an immaculate tee shot that set up a four-foot birdie putt for him. Even as Udayan made par on the fifth playoff hole, Yuvraj sank the all-important four-foot birdie putt to clinch a memorable victory.

Sandhu said, “I would like to thank my team, consisting of my mental coach, my physical trainer, my coach Gurbaaz Mann, who is here today, and my family. They’ve all contributed a lot to making me believe that I can be the best.

“During the playoff, I kept telling myself that this is what you live for, train for, and dream of. That kept me going. Then, on the decisive playoff hole, the yardage of 104 yards from the tee was just perfect for me. In practice, I have often holed my shots from that distance. So I was quite confident on the tee and visualised my shot well, which helped me get it close to the flag.

“It was fun today playing the leader group with Mane, as we have known each other for so long. In my first year at the international level, Udayan and Samarth (Dwivedi) helped me a lot. Our friendship goes beyond golf. Today, Udayan kept me on my toes. He’s playing really well, and I’m sure a win is around the corner for him.

“My driving has stood out these two weeks. I worked a lot with my coach, Gurbaaz, on my driving during the off-season. I used to hit 200 balls a day with my driver till my shoulder would actually start paining. All that hard work, along with my determination, competitiveness, and never-give-up attitude, saw me come through at the end,” he said.

--IANS

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