By Rahul Banerji
Veer Ahlawat will rue his double-bogeyed 17th hole at the $1.25 million SMBC Singapore Open on Sunday for some time.to come.
Those two shots and a further bogey on 18 cost him a berth at the 150th edition of The Open at St Andrews this July as he took a fifth-place finish at Sentosa.
The event was the second Open qualifer with four spots on offer at The Open, which went to Sunday’s winner, Sadom Kaewkanjana, runners-up Yuto Katsuragawa and Joohyung Kim, and fourth-placed Sihwan Kim.
It was that close for the DLF Golf and Country Club-based Ahlawat who had rounds of 68, 70, 70 and 69 for his share of fifth place.
Shiv Kapur played a steady 2-under oar 69 with three birdies and one bogey for T9 that made sure of two Indians in the top-10.
What is even more heartbreaking is the fact that on the front nine, Ahlawat was on fire.
Hot start
The 25-year-old birdied five of his opening six holes to briefly hint at a top-two finish and was still well-placed coming to the final two holes on the Serapong Course.
The par-3 17th is guarded by a long bunker complex on the right. Ahlawat took five to finish and on the par-5 18th, bogeyed again for a solid placing that was also a missed opportunity.
Thailand’s Sadom played steady golf for a bogey-free 69 that took him three clear of the field on 13-under 271. Katsuragawa and Panasonic Open India winner Joohyung Kim shared second on 274s.
With his Singapore International win last week and second place on Sunday, Kim also made sure of finishing atop the Asian Tour’s Ordedr of Merit for 2020-21.
Sihwan Kim birdied 17 to edge ahead in the Open qualifying race and then held on to seal his St Andrews berth at the final event of the Asian Tour season.
“This is amazing, it wasn’t easy,” said Sadom, who was also bogey free on Saturday, on asiantour.com.
Hard work
“It has taken a lot of hard work to get here, especially over the last two years. This is a great way to start the year. I hope it’s the start of a great year.”
Tour topper Kim, 19, added: “Just trying to grind it out. It’s too bad,
“I felt like I had a shot, but obviously I couldn’t be so aggressive because just knowing that I had The Open on the line as well.
“I just tried to play through my game and felt like I didn’t have my 100% today and it’s pretty disappointing. But we learn, and hopefully just come back stronger.”
England’s Paul Casey had his best day of the week with a 66 to tie for 16th, while Thailand’s 14-year-old amateur Ratchanon Chantananuwat closed with a 71 to finish T34.
The Tour’s 2022 season opens with the $5 million PIF Saudi International next month at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club from February 3 to 6.
The top-30 players on the closing season’s final money list qualified for the Saudi event with Rashid Khan (20th), Ahlawat (22nd and Kapur (25th) making the cut.
Also read: PGTI young gun Veer Ahlawat has been a picture of consistency
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