Aman Raj completes wire-to-wire win to end 22-month title drought at IGPL Jaipur

Jaipur, Oct 25 (PTI) Aman Raj ended a 22-month title drought with a two-stroke win over young Kartik Singh at the IGPL Invitational after carding a final-round two-under 68 here on Saturday.

The 30-year-old

from Patna, now based in Gurgaon, had fired back-to-back 61s on the first two days to notch up his third triumph in Jaipur, having previously won titles in 2018 and 2023.

Aman totalled 20-under, while Kartik finished at 18-under which included a final round of 4-under 66.

Kartik was contending for the fourth time in a row in IGPL and this time a double bogey on Par-3 16th proved costly, though he did his best to make up by picking birdies on the 17th and the 18th but it was not enough.

The experienced Aman made no mistake and simply picked pars on the last two holes to grab a two-shot win.

“It was a long-awaited win and means a lot because of the injuries and many changes in life and career,” said Aman after the wire-to-wire success.

“It’s been a while being in contention and I really can’t believe the mistakes I made. I guess I figured a way to play on off days, but it was too many things at once.” Aman was generous in his praise of Kartik. “Great show by Kartik, lot of wins are coming his way! I think Jaipur has been the lucky charm, will be looking forward to the same form and performance in the upcoming events.

“Kartik was tenacious and even though I dropped those two bogeys on the back nine, I knew I could pull it off. Then Kartik dropped a double bogey, so I did not have stretch myself or put any pressure on myself.” Aman became the third different winner in four IGPL Tour events after Gaganjeet Bhullar in the first and second events in Chandigarh and Jaypee Greens, and then Kapil Kumar in Poona.

It was the fourth straight Top-10 for Aman, who also has a win now, while it was also a fourth straight Top-10 for Kartik, who is still searching for his maiden pro win.

Sachin Baisoya (65) was third at 17-under and tied with Tushar Pannu (63). Harendra Gupta (64) was sole fifth at 16-under.

IGPL debutant Udayan Mane (69) could not get going and ended Tied-sixth with Shat Mishra (64) and Sudhir Sharma (62) at 14-under.

Rahul Ravi (66) was the top amateur at 8-under in T-21st place, while the top woman pro was Ridhima Dilawari (67) at 7-under and at T-23. PTI ATK AT