Panthers, Captain’s 18 set up title clash
Defending champions Captain’s 18 will take on Partee Panthers in the Chandigarh Golf League final at Chandigarh Golf Club on October 12. The Panthers defeated Jubilee Chandigarh Gladiators 4.5-2.5, and Captain’s 18 went to another playoff to pip Cee Dee The Mulligans after both teams were tied at the end of the regular seven games.
The Panthers have had an unbeaten campaign coming into the semifinals, and they ensured there was no upset as K Raghav Bhandari scored a comprehensive 6&4 win in the opening singles with other singles game being halved. The Gladiators stacked up on their four-ball. Brig PPS Dhillon and Capt MS Bedi recorded 6&4 win. The Panthers responded with co-owner Simarinder Singh and Bharat Bhandari winning 6&4, and Saahir Singh and Amarjot Bedi pair topping it with a 7&5 victory. Rohit Mittal and Sanjam Harish closed out a 3&2 win.
In the first semi, five of the seven games went to the final hole as Mulligans and Captain’s 18 exchanged blows throughout the match. Mulligans posted win in both singles games 1-Up with Bismad Singh and Angad Sangha carding clutch wins against Randeep Singh and Padamjit Sandhu. The pairs faced off again in the playoff and after halving the first two playoff holes, Randeep’s par on the third playoff hole took the defending champions to the summit clash. Kanwal Bajwa and Pukhraj Singh Brar along with Col AS Bajwa and RS Mann registered wins for Captain’s 18. The turning point was though the second four-ball game, where the unbeaten pair of Amrinder Singh and Jaskeerat Kaur Matharoo failed to register a full point after being 3-Up with three to play. Bhupinder Mundh and Rajiv Moudgil won the final-three holes to halve their game. The final will be between two teams from Group A. Earlier, in the group game, Panthers scored a big 5.5-1.5 win over Captain’s 18. However, the knockouts are a different challenge as seen in the first year when Punjab Aces pipped Netsmartz Tigers in the semi after being beaten by the same score line in their group match.
