PB Aces lived up to their billing as the league toppers and while they got a scare in the semi-final when they edged out Hillbillies in an exciting play off, they clearly dominated Sunday’s (March 6) clash against the Exide White Walkers to be worthy “Champions of the Royal Premier League 2021-22”.
After Cleantek United, who looked unstoppable for the last two editions, it was great for the Ballantine’s Golf Retreat presented RPGL in association with t2, GT, Tata Housing & 360 Life, RainBird, Borosil, Sherpas Consulting, Sleepy Cat, Sleepy Owl and Toro to crown a new champion team this year. The winning team received a cheque for Rs 9 lakhs and White Walkers Rs 6 lakhs as the runners-up.
PB Aces also booked their place and will represent Calcutta with Cleantek United in the National Amateur Golf League final, which will be held in Hyderabad in November.
The IIFL wealth Juniors successfully defended their Plate trophy easily, beating Merino Royals 5-0.
Akshay Bajoria
The final day saw a great turnout of support for all the teams and good strategy paid off for PB Aces led by Vivek Bhartia, Devrat Poddar and Akshay Bajoria, as their first two pairings got them off to the perfect start. While teams nominate their five pairings, a lot depends on what order the games pan out so clearly the winning team got their combinations right.
Bikram Ahuja and Srinjini Mukherjee never gave their opponents RS Chatha and Dharmesh Vora a chance and on the back of this Ayush Bajoria and Himanshu Jatia easily beat the top pair of Karan Singh and Vidyut Saraf to set up a closure by Gaurav Ghosh who was in sublime form . The other two games were close but became redundant so continuing in the excellent spirit this whole event has been played both were aborted with a few holes to play.
A wonderful initiative of the Grant Thornton Business of Golf Awards was well received by all the players with the Most Valuable player of the Tournament going to Avinash Deoskar of Cleantek United. The recipients of the Emerging Leaders under-30 (Future of Golf) awards voted for by the other team owners went to Srinjini Mukherji in the ladies and Anshul Mishra in the gents categories.
Rahul Sharma, the convenor, expressed his delight as to how this seventh edition of arguably the finest club member golf event ever curated and now being mirrored in other metro and Tier-2 cities was received as well as the camaraderie and fellowship it has built which was very visible.
The talented juniors team saw Anaahat Bindra and Brijraj Singh start the domination for the Plate Championship over Prasan Lohia’s Merino team and all the pairings proved too good for their opponents. Special mention must be made of Abhikanks and Rakshik Basu, Manhar Bajoria, Suveer Kapoor, Varish Mohta, Anshul Mishra, Rohan Sofet and Gurmehar Bindra, all of whom are playing great golf off single digit handicaps, which augurs well for the club’s future.
The Royal has been a beehive of activity for the past four months with maximum footfalls enjoying this Royal Partee and already talk has started on team composition for next year. Stay tuned as this event goes from strength to strength every year.
Pictures: B. Halder
Sonam Bajoria flanked by her sons Akshay and Ayush receiving the trophy from the captain Rohan Ghosh. PB Aces is named in memory of her late husband Pradeep.
Exide White Walkers were presented the award for the runners-up team along with a cash prize of Rs 6 Lakhs
The Plate trophy was acquired by the IIFL Wealth Juniors who easily beat the Merino Royals 5-0. Anaahat Bindra and Brijraj Singh started the domination for the Plate Championship over Prasan Lohia’s Merino Royals. Implementing the best strategy while having a good combination for pairings proved to be in the IIFL Wealth Juniors’ favour.
(L-R) Chief referee Viki Verma, convenor Rahul Sharma, Abhijit Dutta, tournament director Brandon de Souza, captain RCGC Rohan Ghosh, Manoj Jha, Ayush Jha.
Shinjini Mukherjee was presented the award for “best emerging golfer” by Ashish Chawwcharria.