Jamshedpur, Nov 9 : Pukhraj Singh Gill, who secured a breakthrough victory in professional golf by winning the IGPL Invitational in Jamshedpur, was delighted to receive his winner's cheque from Arjun Munda, the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

Pukhraj won by nine shots, the largest margin in IGPL history, and believed this victory would inspire him to pursue more wins. This win also moved Pukhraj to second on the IGPL Order of Merit with Rs. 48,81,832, putting him less than Rs. 12 lakhs behind the leader, Aman Raj.

Pukhraj secured a spot in the final stage of the Asian Tour's Qualifying School, as the top four finishers on the IGPL Order of Merit earn qualification, and said, 'This can help me get to the Asian Tour.' Additionally, the topper will secure a place in the International Series early next year and qualify for one of the Open Qualifying Series Tournaments next year.

Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO of IGPL, said, 'The IGPL has made sure there are a lot of incentives for the players. More are on the way, and we want the best of facilities for these talented lot.

He added, 'Kapil and Pukhraj have won their maiden pro titles in the last few weeks and young stars, Kartik Singh and Veer Ganapathy, have made a big mark.'

The contenders for the OOM include Aman Raj, Pukhraj, Kartik Singh Bhullar, Sachin Baisoya, Kapil Kumar, and Veer Ganapathy. So far, seven players have earned Rs. 30 lakhs or more across the first six events far.

A total of four players have won the six IGPL events held so far. Bhullar (Chandigarh and Jaypee Greens) and Aman Raj (Pune and Kolkata) each have two wins, while Kapil Kumar (Pune) and Pukhraj (Jamshedpur) have each won once.

Harendra Gupta from Chandigarh led his team of three amateurs to a memorable victory in the Pro-Am. His teammates included Nishant Jha, Harsh Kumar Pandey, and Vinayak Siddhi.

Tusshar Pannu's team, including Deepak Sahay, Aarav Wadhera, and Raman Jha, secured second place. The third place went to Samarth Dwivedi's team, consisting of Ms. Punam Doshi, Dheer Dutta, and Nitin Khosla.

Pukhraj, the winner of the main tournament, played alongside the chief guest, Arjun Munda, with other members including Rupesh Katriar and Prashant Maurya.

The next event on the IGPL Tour will be in Mumbai from November 20.

/IANS