By Rahul Banerji
Shiv Kapur pulled his 54th and final tee shot of the $400,000 Panasonic Open India out of bounds and never recovered, to gift South Korean 17-year-old Joohyung Kim a maiden Asian Tour title at the Classic Golf and Country Club on Sunday.
Up by one shot after Kim had finished on 13-under par 203 and waiting in the clubhouse, Kapur fell agonizingly short of becoming the first ever repeat winner of the event, marking the ninth time he has finished second in his professional career.
Kapur was in the lead at 14-under par till the 18th tee box, where he pulled his drive out of bounds. Kim (70-68-65) was in the clubhouse waiting for the formalities to get over. Instead, he saw Kapur double-bogey the hole to drop back by two shots, and out of the lead for one last time.
Apt reward
It was fitting reward for the Korean teen who has already won twice on the Asian Development Tour and has a host of top-10 finishes thus year, including last week in Thailand where Kapur ironically lost out on the winner’s cheque to John Catlin of the US.
Kim brought in the day’s card of 7-under 65 in tough conditions, battling gusty winds and averting a critical bogey on the 16th where he chipped in for par after hitting two bunkers, with his tee shot and then also with his second. “That pretty much kept me alive,” he said at the post-tournament press conference.
“It kept my momentum going and after that the par on the 18th kind of sealed y round. After that I was waiting in the clubhouse but honestly, any thoughts of a win were pretty far from my mind. Shiv is a player I look up to and so experienced, so I’m very lucky to be holding this trophy today,” Kim added.
Late boost
The two-shot swing also brought Chikkarangappa S. (69-69-67) on level terms on 12-under 204 with Kapur (67-67-70) as the two best placed Indians of the 30 that had made the cut on Saturday.
“I’ve been superb on the par-5s this week as my strategy to lay up within my favourite yardage with my approach shots worked wonders,” Chikka said later. “I was 10-under on the par-5s through the tournament. My hitting and putting were very consistent but my wedge-play was my only weak link this week.”
Vikrant Chopra took a share of fifth place on 10-under 206 (67-70-69) alongside Indonesia Rory Hie, who won the Classic International here six-od weeks ago, while Veer Ahlawat (69-69-70) was tied eighth on 8-under 208.
“It’s been a pretty solid week for me especially on the greens,” Chopra noted later. “This is my best ever result on the Asian Tour. My previous best was tied eighth at the Panasonic Open India 2015.”
Arjun Prasad and M. Dharma were tied 11th on 7-under 209s, and Om Prakash Chouhan, Karandeep Kochhar, defending champion Khalin Joshi and Rashid Khan were all 6-under 210 and tied 14th.
Seniors straggle in
Jyoti Randhawa was 2-under 214 for a share of 44th place while fellow Tour senior Jeev Milkha Singh was a further shot back on 215 and in tied 50th place.
Chikka, who finished tied second at the Afr-Asian Bank Open in Mauritius last year, was elated at the outcome. “As far as my driving is concerned, I’ve been working on gaining distance over the last two months by improving on my weight transfer during the swing.
“All that hard work is now paying off as I’ve added about 25 yards, from 285 yards to 310 yards, to my driving average.”
Added Chopra, It’s been a pretty solid week for me especially on the greens. This is my best ever result on the Asian Tour. My previous best was tied eighth at the Panasonic Open India 2015.
“Coming into this event I was going through one of my worst seasons on the PGTI and was outside the top-60 of the Order of Merit. I had recently missed the cut in two big events including the Asian Tour event at Classic two months back.
“I badly needed a good finish this week. This top-5 now gives me a huge boost in the PGTI money list and raises my confidence.”
Also read: Shubhankar, Shiv dazzle, but fall just short on either side of Asia
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