A brilliant chip-in eagle at the 17th hole propelled Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar to claim his maiden European Tour title with a one-stroke win over a charging Anthony Quayle of Australia at the Fiji International here today.
The 30-year-old fired a sizzling six-under 66 in the final round but it was his eagle at the second last hole which earned him the lead over Quayle, who broke the course record with a nine-under 63 at the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course.
It was Bhullar's first win on the European Tour, ninth Asian Tour and 10th crown overall. He thus became the most successful Indian player on Asian Tour and the first Indian to win on Australasia Tour.
Bhullar joined Arjun Atwal, Jeev Milkha Singh, SSP Chawrasia and Anirban Lahiri as the only Indians to win on the European Tour as this was sanctioned by Asian, Australasia and European Tours.
The victory also granted him an exemption on all three Tours till end of 2019.
"I've been playing really well. It was just a matter of time and I'm glad it happened on this stage," said Bhullar.
"This kind of good form was definitely building up from last, I would say, two months, I had two good finishes. In fact, more than two, but two runner up finishes on the Asian Tour."
"I had a little bit of an idea that this chip is going to run a lot, but it wasn't an easy chip, I could have easily missed up and down and settled for second or third."