Greater Noida, February 26 – The competition is narrowing down to two teams: UP Prometheans and Rajasthan Regals, as both leading teams won all their matches in the third round of the DP World PGTI 72 The League, which was held at the Jaypee Greens Golf Course in Greater Noida on Thursday.
Both UP and Rajasthan started the day with 17 points, and then added the maximum possible 15 points from Thursday's outing. Prometheans defeated Kolkata Classics, while Regals had a similar result against Mumbai Aces. In the third match of the day, Nava Raipur defeated Charminar Champions 9-6, keeping their hopes alive of reaching the final as they moved to third place with 23 points.
Interestingly, all 15 matches of the day resulted in a clear outcome, with none being halved.
UP captain Shaurya Bhattacharya, who partnered with Himmat Rai to beat Khalin Joshi and Ajay Baisoya 4&3 in the fourballs, said: "It was a really good day. I was happy with my own performance, and with the partnership I had with Himmat Rai. And I was delighted with how the rest of our team played."
"We were tied after 10 holes, after leading through the first nine. Then Himmat made a crucial putt on the 11th hole for a birdie from 12 feet, which helped us halve the hole, and we felt that completely changed the momentum in our favor," he said.
"Today was very important for us. We felt like we could capitalize on today and get as many points as possible. And now we are in a comfortable position, but we are all looking forward to the next two rounds."
As luck would have it, Prometheans will face Regals in the final league round. "We have two strong teams in the final two matches – Nava Raipur and UP. We have given our best over the first three rounds, and we understand that while that can give us a day like today, it can also give us a day like yesterday, when we lost in the second round," said 31-year-old Dhruv Sheoran, who defeated Aces captain Veer Ahlawat 2&1.
Sheoran's win set the tone, which also included a resounding 8&6 win for captain Ajeetesh Sandhu and Michele Ortolani over Mumbai’s Aniket Sawant and Declan Kenny.
"I am a good friend of Veer, and I admire his game. He is a very strong driver, and he has a very good short game. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about our match. But I backed myself on the range and just wanted to stick to the game plan, and I trusted myself. And then it was nice to play with Veer as we kept laughing and talking through the round," added Sheoran.
"In this competition, every player on the team has to play at least one match in each format. That is a challenge to figure out who can play how many matches. There's a lot of planning that goes into it because you want to put your best foot forward. So, we give the planning its due diligence, but after that, we just forget all about it, and we help each other out."
Chikkarangappa S., Sheoran (both Regals), Abhinav Lohan (UP Prometheans), and Anant Singh Ahlawat (Nava Raipur) are the players who have won all their matches across the three rounds.
The fourth round of the league will be played on Monday, March 2, at Classic Golf & Country Club. Charminar Champions will take on bottom-of-the-standings Kolkata Classic, while Rajasthan Regals will be challenged by Nava Raipur. Mumbai Aces will face UP Prometheans.
League standings after the 3rd round:
Rajasthan Regals – 32 points
UP Prometheans – 32 points
Nava Raipur – 23 points*
Charminar Champions – 21 points
Mumbai Aces – 11 points*
Kolkata Classics – 7 points
(* denotes one unfinished fourball match from the first round, the result of which will be determined on Monday).
