Kings Cup: Harmeet ends fourth, Gangjee slips to sixth
By IANSSunday, December 6, 2009
KHON KAEN - Indian golfer Harmeet Kahlon shot a scorching six-under 66 to finish tied fourth while Rahil Gangjee dropped three bogeys on the back nine and lost what might have been a great chance to pull of his second career win in a play-off at the Kings Cup here Sunday.
Gangjee was in shared lead at the turn after a fine three-under 33 on the front stretch. But then tension got the better of him and he dropped three shots on the 14th, 15th and 17th and the birdie on 18th was nothing mere than a consolation.
Gangjee dropped to 11-under 277 for a tied sixth place with two others including Anirban Lahiri (68) as Chinese Taipeis Chan Yih-shin claimed his maiden Asian Tour victory.
Chan won a drama-filled three-way playoff. Chan birdied the second play-off hole from five feet at the Singha Park Khon Kaen Golf Club to edge out Englands Nick Redfern and a luckless Simon Yates of Scotland, who missed a three-foot birdie attempt to extend the contest.
An elated Kahlon said: I am happy with my performance. I love playing in Thailand and my family was here and I was quite relaxed. I hit the ball well and putted well. It was going for me and I could feel it. Im going to go back to Qualifying School next year.
“Ive been trying a lot and everybodys time has to come and hopefully mine will come sooner. Ive put in a lot of work. Ive got one more tournament in India and then go for a holiday with the family and come back out again for Q-school. Ive been feeling confident the past one year. You know, this game changes overnight. Your success comes overnight and you dont know whats around the corner.
Among the other Indians Digvijay Singh (71) was tied 15th and Chinnaswamy Muniyappa (71) was tied 21st.
Gaurav Ghei (75) missed out on a spot in top-65 of the Money List as he finished tied 44th, Firoz (76) was tied 56th and Manav Jaini (73) was tied 66th.
Ghei, a three-time Asian Tour winner, shot a disappointing closing round of 75 to miss out on a top-65 finish as he ended tied 44th.
Chan ended his campaign with a final round of two-under-par 70 for a 14-under-par 274 total which was matched by Redfern, who shot a blistering 66 which included an unfortunate double bogey on 17, and Yates, who returned a 68 in the seasons final event.
