Delhi’s Honey Baisoya continued his domination of the 2018 PGTI season with a second win in two weeks on the tour. The 21-year-old Baisoya followed up his win in Pune last week with an emphatic four-shot victory at the inaugural Paramount GolfForeste Delhi – NCR Open Golf Championship 2018 at the Noida Golf Course on Friday.

 

 

Honey came 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 Sri Lanka in the money list.

 

Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow 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 Baisoya (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, Om Prakash Chouhan and Shankar Das.

 

Honey, who hails from the Delhi Golf 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, Baisoya 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 Noida Golf 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.

 

“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 really enjoy playing here at the Noida Golf Course. Its tree-lined fairways ensure that a lot of players end up making mistakes. That makes for an exciting contest and keeps everyone in the game. I made a few mistakes today but still managed to win. It was the same story when I won here the last time.

 

“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,” added Honey, who had earlier won two titles in consecutive weeks in 2016 when he bagged trophies in Shillong and Digboi.

 

Om Prakash Chouhan maintained his overnight position of tied second as his round was marred by two bogeys and a double-bogey besides the two early birdies.

 

Shamim Khan couldn’t capitalize on his third round lead since he dropped three bogeys on the final day and wasn’t able to find a single birdie.