Bhullar makes it a no-contest

What started with the promise of a riveting contest was steamrolled into a one-man show by Gaganjeet Bhullar, whose relentless charge virtually reduced the final day of the PGTI Players Championship to a scrum for the second slot. Atreyo Mukhopadhyay reports.

What started with the promise of a riveting contest was steamrolled into a one-man show by Gaganjeet Bhullar, whose relentless charge virtually reduced the final day of the PGTI Players Championship to a scrum for the second slot.

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Bhullar overtook overnight leader Vijay Kumar after six holes and crushed SSP Chowrasia before ramming his way to a six-stroke lead with a bogey-free card of seven-under 65 in the third round at RCGC on Friday.

The blazing display dwarfed the efforts of Sanjay Kumar (68), Rahil Gangjee (69) and Chowrasia (70), leaving them to head the chasing pack. Unless Bhullar suffers a catastrophe, these three will fight for the lesser metals.

For Bhullar, things started changing for the good from the ninth hole. Bhullar was driving it a long way, hitting an effective second shot and was quick to sniff his chance after finding the good areas on the greens. He lined up his putts with utmost care, concentrated long and hard before executing the stroke and his accuracy was near-perfect from a range of 8-12 feet. Later, he galloped to a lead of four strokes by the 12th hole, which left his rivals so dazed that they failed to put up a fight. Unseating Bhullar will take more than something special now.