By Rahul Banerji
Ajeetesh Sandhu and Rashid Khan raised hopes of a one-two finish at the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open but dropped a shot each to allow Thai rookie Sadom Kaewkanjana get his nose ahead and win in his first Asian Tour appearance this season on Saturday.
Sadom had led for most part of the tournament, three ahead after 36 holes and two up after 54. He seemed to be on his way to victory but dropped three shots in a row to let Sandhu (65) and Rashid (70) overtake him.
The two Indians then seemed to give in to the pressure and as they bogeyed the par-5 17th hole at the Kurmitola Golf Club in Dhaka, Sadom birdied twice in succession to reach the 18th tee with a one-shot lead.
The three played the hole to par and Sadom was home as champion, Sandhu second and Rashid third.
Maiden success
It was a maiden title for the Thai, while Sandhu was looking for his second and Rashid for his third success.
Karandeep Kochhar (70) was tied 12th, Veer Ahlawat (67) and Udayan Mane (70) were T25, Honey Baisoya (69), Viraj Madappa (77) and Abhijit Chadha (67) T35.
Jeev Milkha Singh (71) had rounds of 74-67-71-71 for a share of 41st place. It was an encouraging performance as he makes his way back from injury and loss of form. Aman Raj (67) was T48 and Akshay Sharma (75) was T61.
‘Plenty of positives’
Sadom said later, “Winning in my first start on the Asian Tour, I feel very happy. I will take a lot of positives from this week and this win will give me a lot of confidence in my game as well. It’s been an unbelievable journey since turning professional last December.
”My initial goal was just to keep my Asian Tour card for the next season but now I have won on both the Asian Development Tour and the Asian Tour. I am really happy. I didn’t expect to do so well. I finished second here in an amateur event four years ago.”
Said Sandhu, “I knew what I had to do when I started out. I actually did what I needed to so I am quite happy with that. I just made a mistake on one hole. I hadn’t made bogey in three and a half days. It’s not that I played the hole bad. I just missed out on the putt.
‘Great week’
“I knew I had a one-shot lead after the birdie on 14 but nothing changed for me then. I played 15 and 16 pretty well but I knew I had to probably make one more birdie coming in. I didn’t manage to do that but overall, it’s been a great week, considering how I started the week with three bogeys in my opening eight holes.
“If someone had told me I would finish second at the start of the week, I would have taken that.”
Rashid said, “I started alright. I hit it close to give myself opportunities to make birdies on the first few holes. I hit a few good shots but couldn’t hole the putts.
“It was all good. I expected it to be better but it’s fine. I just made some mistakes out there but otherwise, I am happy. Overall, it’s still a good finish for me.”
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