Stephen Gallacher finished T-7 in 2018 while playing in the same group as Matt Wallace, the winner of the last edition. This time the 44-year-old had his son Jack on the bag, and won it all at the Hero Indian Open on a Mother’s day, making it memorable for his family altogether.
The crowd came cheering for the 27-year-old Julian Suri, who looked like an absolute winner here, but everything changed by the 13th when he made a quadruple on the par-4 14th, a massive blow to his stint, which pulled him down to a T-4 finish.
“It was great to have my son, Jack, on the bag and this being Mother’s Day as well makes it even more special,” said Gallacher. “I have always loved coming to India, I love my curries and to have my son, Jack, on the bag for the win was special,”
He added, “Last year I played in the final group with Matt Wallace and I enjoyed and I was seventh, so it felt great to get this Trophy this time around.”
The Scot overcame a major setback after a quadruple bogey eight on the seventh hole on Sunday.
Gallacher added, “I was pretty calm after that hole (the seventh), there’s nothing really much you can do. To see that I was only five back gave me a wee bit of encouragement.
“I thought, ‘just hang in there’. When I birdied 15 I saw that Julian Suri had come back and then when I got to the 16th green I was tied for the lead. I just tried to finish as strong as I could and I did that. Thankfully it was enough.”
Gallacher, who co-lead the first round here with Julian Suri at -5 but lost his way with a 74 on second day a 67 on Saturday helped him gain the momentum while Suri still was leading the competition and it all changed for the Scottish man on Sunday when Suri shot a 5-over 77, helping him with a comfortable win by three-strokes over Suri. But, more importantly, he was able to sustain the charge from a 25-year-old Japanese Masahiro Kawamura, who had a chance to force a playoff if he had made a birdie on the 18th to tie for the lead with Gallacher at -9.
Rashid Khan and S Chikkarangappa finished in a tie for 10th and were the best Indians among the eight who made the cut. Rashid carded two-under 70 and finished at four-under 284, while S Chikkarangappa (74) suffered two doubles but still registered a Top-10. “I managed to keep a Top-10 despite those two bad holes on fifth and 10th, but I am happy with the way my game is going and I hope to crack through for my maiden win, soon,” said Chikka.
Among other Indians, Shubhankar Sharma’s put two balls into the water on eighth to shoot 75 and ended even par 288 for the week and was Tied-27th. Gaganjeet Bhullar (71) rose to T-39th, SSP Chawrasia (75) was T-45th, Ajeetesh Sandhu (75) was T-54th, while Rahil Gangjee (80) and Gaurav Pratap Singh (82) were T-69th.
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