By Rahul Banerji
Overnight co-leader Khalin Joshi got the better of Siddikur Rahman by one shot to win his maiden Asian Tour title at the Delhi Golf Club on Sunday,’
Going into the final day of the $400,000 Panasonic Open India on 13-under par 203 alongside Bangladesh’s Siddikur, Joshi emerged winner with an 17-under par total.
Joshi had a final round of two under par 70 for a four-day aggregate of 271.
Siddikur, who has two wins at this venue was a shot behind on 16 under par 272.
Ajeetesh Sandhu, hard on the heels of the leaders all the way through was third on 15 under 274.
Recent maiden PGTI titlist Aman Raj made it three Indians in the top five with a 13-under par 275 for fifth place.
Newly-minted pro Kshitij Naveed Kaul, all of 17, had a four-day total of 12-under 276 (72-66-70-68) to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.
Joshi, who helped maintain India’s hold on the title equaled Shiv Kapur’s record from last year as the lowest winning score in the tournament.
The 26-year-old is the seventh Indian to win the tournament in eight editions.
Joshi stumbled with bogeys at the start of his round, but the three-time PGTI winner displayed tremendous grit thereafter.
He began to turn it around with a downhill 12-footer for birdie on the eighth hole
before sinking four birdies on his last five holes.
Joshi’s success was the sixth by an Indian on the international level this year. It also accounted for the fifth win by an Indian on the Asian Tour in 2018.
Joshi said, “I have no words honestly. It’s a huge monkey of my back.
“I think I played really well. Kept my nerves and played really solid coming in. The last four holes were key for me.
“All night I was thinking about the 16th hole tee shot because that tee shot has haunted me for a while now.
“This win means the world to me. Winning anyway was great but winning at the Delhi Golf Club was unbelievable. All the spectators and crowd over here were very supportive.
“For me the world ranking points, jumping up in the order of merit in the Asian Tour was key. Going forward and playing as good as I am playing. I have four big weeks coming up after this.”
Former Indian Open champion Siddikur (67-66-70-69) couldn’t make it a second title at the DGC, missing a 10-footer for birdie on the last hole.
“I played better than I did yesterday actually,” the Bangladesh star said. “Khalin played really well coming down the stretch but I thought I did well too.
“Overall, it wasn’t bad. I am very happy with my result and I am proud of myself that I am able to put up a good fight for the title.
Defending champion Shiv Kapur (72) closed the week in tied 24th at five-under-283.