Indonesia, India are winners at Classic GCC International C’ship

By Rahul Banerji

The trophy will travel to Indonesia after Rory Hie became the first from his country to win an Asian Tour trophy, but India will have good reason to feel satisfied with the outcome of the inaugural $300,000 Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship.

Hie made sure he converted a great start from Thursday into a title win at this picturesque Jack Nicklaus-designed facility with a 21-under champion’s card (64, 68, 67, 68).

He was pushed for much of the way by Rashid Khan, who eventually finished tied second alongside South Korea’s Byungjun Kim on 19-under 269.

Chandigarh youngster Aadil Bedi, in only his seventh Asian Tour start, was a career-best fourth on 18-under 270 (67, 68, 69, 66), Aman Raj and Abhijit Chadha took a share of fifth place along with Thai golfers Kwanchai Tannin and Suttijet Kooratanapsan on 16-under 272.

Raj finished off in style, nailing a 25-foot eagle putt on the 18^th hole to also equal his best on the Asian Tour, whuile for Chadha, it was a best-ever placing.

Plenty to cheer

There were further celebrations in store as India put a total of 10 players inside the top 20 in the form of Veer Ahlawat and Karan Pratap Singh in tied 13^th on 12-under 276 and Kshitij Naved Kaul Karandeep Kochar, Shivendra Singh Sisodia and Viraj Madappa all coming in tied 17^th on 11-under 277..

Hie was overwhelmed at the prize distribution ceremony, which also saw him pick up a winner’s cheque of $54,000. “It’s not really sunk in yet. But this has to be the biggest day of my life, no matter what happens from here on,” he said.

“The win will also open a lot of doors, Coming here, I wasn’t sure of what I would be doing next but I guess this makes things a lot easier for me now.

“I have always enjoyed coming to India, it has such friendly and welcoming people, and I have good memories of this course too which I last played 10 years ago,” the 31-year-old added.

The win was significant in more ways than one as it not only changes the profile of the talented player, but also boosts him in the Habit for Humanity Standings on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit from 122nd on Thursday to 37th on Sunday.

Personal let-down for Khan

For Rashid, the finish was disappointing as he had moved to within one shot of Hie overnight, On Sunday, he just could not ignite his challenge. “I was one shot behind after the 14^th but hit a bad shot on the 15^th which I bogeyed and Rory birdied. I could not recover from that.

“Today was a little up and down for me. Couldn’t find the fairways in the start at the front nine and missed a lot of greens. Somewhere on the course I think I went against myself.

“My game is to attack the flag and I went a little safe today. Maybe it was because I was not able to find the fairways and from the rough it is really tough to control the ball.”

At one point, Hie, Rahid and Kim were all in a tie at the top of the leader-board before the Indinesia ripped off three birdies in a row and Rashid bogeyed the 15h to fall two shots behind. That was the turning point as far as the champion was concerned.

Distracted thoughts

“I was getting a little distracted by thoughts of winning,” Hie admitted later. “But after the 15^th, win Kim playing in the group ahead of is, I knew I only had Rashid to worry about, That two-shot swing was decisive, the turning point for my tournament.”

Bedi was rock solid on the day, his 6-under 66 was only one behind the day’s best card of 7-under 65.

“I found something after my chip on the 13^th hole lipped out. After that I just played more aggressive golf,” he said later.

“Also, earlier in the week, I should have been a bit more patient and attack the flag selectively. But this all part of a learning process for me and I am glad to get in my first top-5 finish and that too on home ground.

‘In the zone

“I started well today being two-under through three holes, but then struggled a little bit with my drives and was not finding the fairways as regularly as I would’ve liked. However, I found something in my game on the 13^th. From there on I was striking it well once again.

“I was in the zone on the back-nine and landed it within five feet on many occasions to set up birdies.

“The big positives from this week are that I have learnt a few things about my game. I just need to be more patient and need to know which pins to attack. I now feel playing conservatively on some holes can also be good for me.”

Also read: Back in form Rashid Khan sets up push for Classic Int’nl title