Navi Mumbai: Veer Ahlawat brought all his experience to emerge as champion at the INR 1 crore CIDCO Open 2025 presented by Larsen & Toubro, the first professional event to be held at the Kharghar Valley Golf Course (KVGC) in Navi Mumbai.
Gurugram golfer Veer Ahlawat (65-65-73-67), who was at the top of the leaderboard for the first three days and was the sole leader in the first two rounds and joint leader after the third round, put in a solid performance of four-under 67 in the final round despite a turbulent first half of the day to emerge winner by three strokes for a total of 14-under 270.
The 1.80 meter tall Ahlawat, the 2024 PGTI Order of Merit champion, secured his second title of 2025 and sixth overall victory, which earned him the winner’s check worth INR 15 lakh and catapulted him from 18th to 11th in the 2025 PGTI rankings.
Pune’s Rohan Dhole Patil (70-69-64-70), joint overnight leader with Veer, managed 70 points in the final round to finish second with a total of 11-under 273, recording his best result at the PGTI. Rohan received a check worth INR 10 lakh, which improved him from 42nd to 32nd in the PGTI rankings.
Gurugram’s Manu Gandas (68-68-70-68) and Italy’s Michele Ortolani (67-66-72-69) finished third at 10-under 274.
Ravi Kumar from Chandigarh made the third hole-in-one of the tournament with his final round of 71. Ravi managed to win on the 13th hole. He managed a total of 4 under 280 and finished in a tie for ninth place at 4 under 280.
Veer Ahlawat, who hails from DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurugram, started the day positively with tap-in birdies on the first and third holes. Veer then endured a turbulent period until the 10th, when he made a single birdie on that stretch in return for two bogeys and a double bogey, and found the trees and water hazard on the fourth and ninth, respectively.
As Rohan Dhole Patil, Michele Ortolani and Manu Gandas closed in and were breathing down Ahlawat’s neck at the turn, the latter seized the initiative with an eagle and four birdies at the expense of a single bogey in the final eight holes. Veer took control by reeling in 20-footers for eagle and birdie on the 12th and 18th, respectively, and also fired a 15-footer for birdie on the 13th.
The rest of the field found it difficult to keep up with Veer on the back nine. Until the 13th, Rohan Dhole Patil was ahead on the day. Rohan then rebounded with three straight birdies before bogeying the final hole to finish three shots behind Ahlawat.
Veer, who has gained valuable international experience by playing on the DP World Tour in the 2025 season on the back of his PGTI Order of Merit win last year, said: “I started well today but then made a few mistakes until the 10th. From the 11th onwards I really got going.”
“Despite the tough stretch in the middle, I was reasonably confident because in the back of my mind I knew I had played well in such difficult situations before. I knew that once I gave it my best, I would be hard to beat.
“I would like to thank CIDCO and L&T for their support of this event. CIDCO has done a wonderful job with Kharghar Valley Golf Course as in my opinion it is one of the best golf courses in the country in terms of its design and length.”
