Udayan Mane won the IGPL Invitational South Africa by a seven-shot margin over Gaganjeet Bhullar. Mane shot a final round 67 for a 20-under total to claim his first IGPL Trophy and his first win in over four years at Royal Johannesburg.
Udayan Mane finally got himself an IGPL Trophy, as he won the IGPL Invitational South Africa by a whopping seven-shot margin over the much-decorated Gaganjeet Bhullar at the iconic Royal Johannesburg's West Course. Mane, who had at least a share of the lead from the first day, overcame the early blues when he bogeyed twice in the first four holes, after being bogey free for the first two days. He recovered fast and found seven birdies over the next 14 for a 67 and a magnificent win, according to a press release.
The win, coming after a third-place finish a week earlier in AM Green IGPL Mauritius, confirmed Mane's return to form in recent weeks.
After superb rounds of 65-64 on the first two days, his final round of 67 gave him a 20-under total, the best so far this season.
Bhullar was a distant second at 13-under, while Manav Shah totalled 12-under in third place.
Bhullar, winner of four AM Green IGPL titles since its inception, added 68 to his first two rounds of 67-68 to finish at 13-under while Manav Shah, who had a share of the first day's lead with a 65, added 70-69 on the last two days to total 12-under.
Mane's Return to Winning Ways
Bhullar played all week superbly but could not get the putts to fall. He had just one bogey over three days, but said he would have liked to see some more putts fall, though he did add that it was a nice week and a great course, as the AM Green IGPL stays on in Africa for the AM Green IGPL Invitational Congo next week.
Mane's seven-shot win was also the biggest this season, and it made him the third different winner after Gaganjeet Bhullar in Chandigarh and Sachin Baisoya in AM Green IGPL Mauritius.
"It was great to win as I have not won in more than four years," said the Olympian Mane, whose last win on the Indian tour came in late 2021.
The former Indian Order of Merit winner, who also played the 2014 Asian Games, has now won 12 pro titles.
He added, "I am so excited that I finally got over that hurdle (of not winning for so long), and it came at such a lovely and prestigious golf course like the Royal Johannesburg. Hopefully, I will carry this momentum further this season."
On his hole-in-one a day earlier, he said, "The hole in one, honestly, it surprised me, as they always do. It was a pitching wedge shot, and luckily I had Manav (Shah) go ahead of me so I could gauge the wind properly, and I committed to my number, and it went in."
On the lighter side, he laughed and commented, "When I do something great, the camera is not there, and when I do something not-so-great, the camera is there."
Mane, who led by six shots after two days, opened with a bogey, and another bogey followed on the fourth. But he stopped the leakage with back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth and another on the ninth to stay well ahead of the field. On the back nine, he added birdies on the 10th and the 11th, and two more came on the 16th and the 18th to complete a well-deserved win.
It has been a good season after a rather modest 2025, when he failed to finish in the Top 3 in any of his seven starts.
Leaderboard Roundup
Shaurya Binu gets the best card of the week with final day 63.
The two big scorers on the final day were Shaurya Binu (63) and experienced Shiv Kapur (64). Kapur rose 13 spots while Binu went up 17 places as both were tied fourth.
Musiwalo Nethunzwi of South Africa had a very sedate final round of 71 with just one birdie but was the top local finisher in sixth place at 9-under as Karandeep Kochhar (70) dropped three bogeys on his back nine and ended seventh at 8-under.
Young Raghav Chugh (71) was tied at eighth with Harshjeet Singh Sethie (69) at 7-under total, while another South African, Alessio Graziani (73), rounded off the Top-10.
Pukhraj Singh Gill had a very rough day with three bogeys on his front nine, and on the back nine, he dropped one more bogey and a double bogey against two birdies to card 76 and finished Tied-11th alongside the first-round co-leader Milind Soni (73) at 5-under total.
The previous week's runner-up in Mauritius, Veer Ganapathy (70-70-73) was T-17 alongside the Mauritius winner, Sachin Baisoya (68-74-71), at 3-under total.
Season Standings and Team Competition
In terms of the individual standings, Bhullar is on top with Rs. 39,96,800, while Sachin Baisoya (Rs. 34,17,550) was second, and the latest winner, Udayan Mane, rose to third place with Rs. 32,61,000.
Mane's super efforts also carried his team, Atri Mumbai, to the top of the overall team standings. Atri has Mane, Aman Raj, Aadil Bedi and Tushar Pannu as their players.
Even though Green Fuels Vizag won this week's honours, they were overtaken by this week's runner-up, Atri Mumbai, who were spearheaded by Mane. Atri now lead the overall standings with 170 points as the team competition runs to the end of the season in December. Green Fuels with Manav Shah, Alessio Graziani, Milind Soni and Danish Verma this week, are second overall with 150.
Atri were third this week in Joburg, one place behind Honer Homes Gurugram, for whom Shaurya Binu's spectacular 9-under 63 in the final round made all the difference.
Honer Homes are tied second with Atri at 150 despite their second place in Joburg. Honer Homes' four players were Binu, Pukhraj Singh Gill, Shar Mishra and Digraj Singh Gill.
The next event is the AM Green IGPL Invitational Congo coming week. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)