Sandhu is heading for a resounding victory and a third Servo Masters title

Yuvraj Sandhu receives the IndianOil Servo Masters trophy and winner’s check from IndianOil Chairman AS Sahney (second from right) and PGTI President Kapil Dev (third from left). Also featured are Rahul Prashant of Digboi Refinery, K. John Prasad and tour director Amandeep Johl. Image courtesy of PGTI.

By Rahul Banerji

Yuvraj Sandhu galloped home by seven strokes to win his third IndianOil Servo Masters title at the Digboi Golf Links in Assam on Friday.

The rankings leader bounced back from two straight playoff losses as he scripted a thumping start to finish triumphant, his fifth win of the season, according to PGTI.

Sandhu (65-69-66-69), who hit six shots outside the field, was rarely troubled by his pursuers, totaling an impressive 19 under par 269 for the week at the milestone 25.^e edition of the Rs 1 crore event.

The 28-year-old from Chandigarh picked up a check of Rs 15 lakh to take his season’s earnings to Rs 1.21 crore, putting him ahead of over Rs 29 lakh in the PGTI rankings.

Defending champion Jamal Hossain (68-73-70-65) of Bangladesh answered the final day’s best card of 7-under 65, moving from a tie for eighth on the night to sole second place at 12-under 276.

Shaurya Bhattacharya, Saptak Talwar and Veer Ahlawat shared third place at 11 under 277, while Digboi’s Deven Bhumij, the only local professional to make the cut, was 54^e at 10 over 298.

Room to improve

Sandhu equaled his previous run of five wins in a PGTI season achieved in 2022 and with more events to come, it is mind-boggling to think what is still possible even though he will play an Asian Tour tournament next.

The night’s leader dropped a shot early but bounced back before the turn with two birdies and an eagle to open an eight-shot gap on the pack.

Two more bogeys on the back nine were canceled out by as many gains as he sailed to a comfortable win at the end.

Sandhu, who holds the record for the lowest win total of 23 under 265 in Digboi, said: “It was quite a relaxing day as I had a big lead at the start of the round.

“I was trying to achieve my goal of greens under regular rules. After the eagle on the seventh I was in the zone again and wanted to break my record here.

Special location

“Digboi will always be special to me as I won my first PGTI title here. I am very happy to win here for the third time and winning by a big margin is something I will always cherish.

“The playoff losses in the last two games were disappointing, but I looked at it as a learning curve and my team did a good job of getting me to put my head down and keep doing what I do best.

“My team’s belief in me and all the work I put into the mental side of my game helped me get back to the point of winning this week,” added Yuvraj, who is 14^e professional title on Friday.

Hossain’s 65 included an eagle and five birdies and finishing second earned him Rs 10 lakh and a rise to fifth in the PGTI rankings.

Bhattacharya’s T3 took him from third to second place on the money list with a season’s income of Rs 92,52,075.

Also read: Sandhu takes six shot lead in final round of Servo Masters

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