(MOREPIC1) Face2News/Chandigarh
Green Gators & Soaring Eagles played out a thrilling tie as they shared the points on an eventful Friday at the Havells Lloyd CGL 2023 being played here at the Chandigarh Golf Club. The Gators looked oncourse for a comfortable win at the halfway stage but the fancied Eagles came back strongly to halve the match in a gripping finale.
In the day’s other matches, Pirates of the Greens went back to winning ways as they beat Empire 4-3, Fairway Comets getting the better of Hunting Hawks 4.5-2.5 while Netsmartz Tigers pulled out a last gasp 4-3 win over the holders Canam Raptors.
(SUBHEAD)The Green Gators were fast out of the blocks and at one point led in as many as five games before the Soaring Eagles clawed back their way into the match. RS Bedi and Raghav Bhandari won the singles games for the Gators & Eagles respectively before co-owner Ashish Bagrodia combined with Col VP Singh to give Gators the early lead in results. Skipper Amandeep Bhaika combined with Jaspreet Sokhi to go back to winning ways and keep the Eagles in contention. However, we saw Rabbin Saini & Vipul Sehgal make an inspired comeback after being 3 down with six to play and halve their game. Udey Brar & Dashmeet Singh played an up and down game against Suneet Sehgal & Amandeep Singh Virk, who went 4 up after 6 to put Gators ahead and favorites to win the tie. However, some a series of clutch moments from the Eagles pair saw their team and supporters erupt in joy when they closed out the win.
Pirates Of The Greens marched towards promised land as they completed a regulation win as both sides saw their stronger match ups score the required points. Only one game even reached the 17th hole as Dhruvavtar Singh Ghai & skipper Gaurav Talwar gave the Pirates a boost with a 6&5 win in the anchor game. Kulvinder Singh & Col. Vikramjit Singh Panag had earlier given the Pirates a lead by winning their games 2&1 and 4&3 respectively. Empire managed to emerge stronger in the fourball games as Brig Balvinder Singh & Iqbaljit Singh Grewal led the charge with a 4&3 win followed by two 4&2 results.
Fairway Comets & Hunting Hawks played out a tight top of the table clash as most games went the distance. Prithvi Singh Sandhu opened the account for the Comets with a 3&1 win in his singles game before Puneet Dhiman & Sagar Arora played a squared game. Two fourball games went to the wire with both teams registering a 1 Up win each. Pauline Sapphire Singh & DS Sandhu gave the Hawks an early point with a huge 6&5 win. Admiral Sunil Lanba & Jaideep Singh Grewal won 4&3 to ensure the win for the Comets as the final fourball game also went their way 2&1.
Last year’s semi finalists the Netsmartz Tigers got their first win after a tough start to their campaign. They beat the defending champions Canam Raptors, who themselves are struggling to kickstart a run of positive results, on the very final hole of the match. Col JM Singh continued his stunning form with another early finish (7&5) but the rest of the Raptors squad could not contribute much as Dilsher Grewal got the Tigers up and running. At one point the Tigers were leading in six games but at the end it could have gone either way. Mayank Oberoi & Phulbag Sodhi won 5&4 in the anchor game but a couple of last hole wins got the Raptors back in contention. However, Sangram Singh & Sukhirat Singh held their nerve and made the putt that counted the most and took their team home with four points.
Results
Pirates of the Greens 4-3 Empire
Green Gators 3.5-3.5 Soaring Eagles
Hunting Hawks 2.5-4.5 Fairway Comets
Netsmartz Tigers 4-3 Canam Raptors.
