Mukesh’s five-under over his front nine was enough to pull the rug from under all his pursuers’ feet early on the last day of the Solaris Chemtech Open as the 43-year-old won the title by five strokes. Mukesh shot five-under 67 to total 16-under 272. “I knew I only had the job of increasing my lead and that the pressure was on the other guys to be aggressive,” Mukesh said after the win.

The day had begun disastrously for overnight second-placed Gaurav Pratap Singh, the inexperience showing as the Delhi boy kept hitting wayward and his putts falling short. Starting with a double bogey, he was four-over for the day by the sixth hole, and out of reckoning.

It was Rahil Gangjee who was expected to come up with the real fight, but the Kolkata player kept it much too late. Mukesh started with an easy birdie on the par-five second, on in two and two-putting. He then sank a long up-and-down on the fifth. He got another birdie on the sixth, as Gangjee struggled with his iron play and bogeyed both the fifth and the sixth.

Gangjee holed out from the bunker on the par-three seventh for his second birdie of the day, but then came the ninth hole that made all the difference. Mukesh was again on the green in two shots on the par-five hole, as Gangjee crawled through the prickly bush. Mukesh sank a huge putt right in for his eagle, while Gangjee’s putt for par stopped an inch short.

With a nine-shot difference with nine holes to go, all that was left was a scramble for second, and the Kolkata player edged Anirban Lahiri and M Dharma in that. Gangjee’s four birdies on the back nine helped him finish 11-under 277. Dharma managed to get back after his third’s round blip, having led the first two days, shooting four-under 68 to finish in third spot.

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