Honey wins again, extends lead in PGTI Order of Merit

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi 

secured his second successive win on the PGTI tour with a four-stroke triumph at the inaugural Paramount GolfForeste - Open Championship here today.

The 21-year-old Baisoya followed up his win in Pune last week with an emphatic victory at the the Course after coming up with a determined two-under-70 in the final round to total 11-under-277 for the week.

Baisoya's sixth professional title helped him extend his lead in the PGTI Order of Merit. With season's earnings of Rs. 17,02,535, Honey is now almost Rs. 5 lakh ahead of second-placed N Thangaraja of in the money list.

of and Delhi's Shamim Khan, the overnight leader, struggled in round four with scores of 74 and 75 respectively to finish joint runners-up at seven-under-281.

Honey (70-69-68-70), who was tied second and one off the lead after round three, was one-over through eight holes on Friday and fighting hard for the title against the likes of Shamim Khan, and

Honey, who hails from the Club, then strung together three consecutive birdies from the ninth to the 11th to emerge as the top favourite. But a double-bogey on the 12th reduced his lead to just one shot.

However, he finally broke away from the rest of the field with a crucial 13-feet birdie conversion on the 13th. Four pars that followed along with another long birdie putt on the last hole ensured that he sailed home with a comfortable margin. It was his third victory at the Course.

Baisoya, who had also won with an impressive seven-shot margin in Pune last week, said, After some ordinary starts this week, I felt I came back well in the latter half of my round on most days. I knew two or three birdies towards the end of each round would keep me in the contest.

"I managed to do that. In fact, the two eagles in round three really lifted my confidence. The long eagle conversion on the 17th yesterday set up the tournament for me."

Talking about his round, he said: My final round began to take flight with the excellent par-save on the par-4 seventh where I landed it within a few inches of the flag after finding the hazard with my first shot.

"I feel the turning point then came with the birdie on the 13th. The long birdie conversion there helped me make a quick recovery from my double-bogey on the previous hole. I made a few mistakes today but still managed to win. It was the same story when I won here the last time."

Honey, who had earlier won two titles in consecutive weeks in 2016 when he bagged trophies in Shillong and Digboi, described it as the best phase of his career.

I feel I'm going through one of the best phases of my golfing career at the moment and it feels great to be leading the PGTI Order of Merit. But there's still a long way to go in the season and I'm hoping to carry forward this rich vein of form, he said.

Chandigarh's Harendra Gupta finished fourth at six-under-282.

Pradeep Kumar had the best finish among the professionals from He took a share of 15th place at one-under-287.

Noida's Simarjeet Singh, the only amateur to make the cut, ended the week in tied 19th at even-par-288.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, April 20 2018. 19:30 IST