Bhullar drops, but Chowrasia rises

KOBE - Gaganjeet Bhullar ballooned to a 78 on the final day and dropped from overnight 25th to 59th, while S.S.P. Chowrasia with a fne 68 zoomed to tied 30th at the end of the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open golf here Sunday. Anirban Lahiri (73) tied for 55th.

Australian Brendan Jones upstaged Japan’s big guns to claim a one-stroke victory here.

Starting the third and final round three strokes off the lead, the 35-year-old Jones fired a closing round of five-under-par 66, the week’s lowest, to lift his ninth career title in Japan by one at the Rokko Kokusai Golf Club’s East course.

Overnight leader Ryuchi Oda carded a 70 to finish second in the $ 1.7 million event jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.

Title holder Daisuke Maruyama put up a solid defence by sharing third place, a further shot back, after a 69 with Korea’s Kim Kyung-tae (67) and countryman Sushi Ishigaki (68).

Korea’s Noh Seung-yul, the Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, settled for joint eighth place after a 71 while Japan’s number one and top draw Ryo Ishikawa, who held a share of the lead early on, faded to a 73 for equal 13th place in the tournament reduced to 54 holes after bad weather forced the cancellation of play on Thursday.

Jones, who totalled six-under-par 207 and picked up the winner’s cheque of $356,000, was beaming with joy after ending a two and a half year title drought.