AVT Champions Tour: Consistent Sandeep emerges overall season winner
Sandeep, a winner at the 11th edition in Kolkata a few months ago and the 12th edition of the tournament at Oxford Golf Resort in January, and an overall runner-up in 2021-2022 season, patiently just took his time to grab the overall title
Sandeep Sandhu playing at his home club shot rounds of 72-74 (146) to win the Chandigarh-leg of the AVT Champions Tour finale by seven strokes over Hemanta Panging 72-79 (151) on Wednesday.
Sandeep, a winner at the 11th edition in Kolkata a few months ago and the 12th edition of the tournament at Oxford Golf Resort in January, and an overall runner-up in 2021-2022 season, patiently just took his time to grab the overall title.
The Chandigarh Golf Club played host for the first time to India’s senior leading amateurs who played the AVT Champions Tour finale from March 13 to 15.
In the 50-54 age category, Ashish Kapoor of Noida emerged winner with rounds of 80-76 (156). In the 55-59 category, PS Rathore of Bikaner shot 82-79 (161) to win on countback for having a better second round score than John Wilcox of Mumbai and Manav Prakash of Delhi. In 60-64, Bhupender Singh from Delhi emerged winner with rounds of 78-83 (161) by three strokes. In 65-69, GC Sharma of Chandigarh shot 78-82 (160) to win by a stroke over Delhi’s Gangesh Khaitan, while Pune’s Sanjay Kolhatkar dominated his category of 70 and above with 85-91 (176) for a five-shot win over Venkatesh Murthy Hebbale from Bengaluru.
In the four-member team competition, Delhi team of Deepak Gupta, Sukhbir Singh, Raul Rai and Padamjit Sandhu logged 471 to beat the team of Sandeep Sandhu, Jaspreet Bakshi, Kuldip Singh Sandhu and Darvesh Kumar at 473.
At this edition, 85 outstation players had travelled to Chandigarh to compete with a contingent of 27 players from Delhi NCR alone.
Later, veteran golfer and coach Simran Singh, now 89, was given lifetime contribution award. The tournament also saw participation from five senior women where Sunita Dutt shot rounds of 93-90 (183) to win by five shots over Neelam Sihota 92-100 (192).
The AVT Champions Tour series prepares Indian seniors to test out their skills against the country’s best while preparing for their international outing to the annual Asia-Pacific Senior Amateur Championship.
Age group-wise winners:
50-54: Ashish Kapoor (156), 55-59: PS Rathore (161), 60-64; Bhupender Singh (161), 65-69; GC Sharma (160), 70 and above; and Sanjay Kolhatkar (176)
Women: Sunita Dutt (183)
Gross for 36 holes: Padamjit Sandhu, Deepak Gupta, Sukhbir Singh and Raul Rai (471)
Runners-up: Sandeep Sandhu, Jaspreet Bakshi, Kuldip Singh Sandhu and Darvesh Kumar (473).
