New Delhi, October 28: India’s Khalin Joshi produced a dramatic finish when he fired four birdies in his closing five holes to sign for a four-under-par 68 and clinch his maiden Asian Tour title by one shot at the US$400,000 Panasonic Open India on Sunday.

Despite dropping two bogeys in this opening three holes, the 26-year-old Joshi withstood stifling pressure to bounce back with six birdies on his way home, including a seven-footer on the last to hold off the challenge of Bangladeshi Siddikur Rahman, at the Delhi Golf Club.

Joshi, who held a share of the overnight one-shot lead thanks to a superb third-round 64, would match the lowest winning score of the tournament with his four-day total of 17-under-par 271 in the event, which celebrated its eighth edition on the Asian Tour this week.

Delhi expert Siddikur fell short of his title bid after missing a 10-footer birdie putt on the last to settle for a par and a closing 69. He ended the week in second place on his own to mark his best result so far this season.

Young Thai talent Suradit Yongcharoenchai and Ajeetesh Sandhu of India shared third place on 274 following respective rounds of 69 and 70 while Aman Raj, also of India, recorded his career-best result on the Asian Tour after carding a 69 to settle a further shot back in fifth.

Joshi will take home a winner’s prize purse of US$72,000 courtesy of his victory, which saw him become the fifth Indian to win on the region’s premier Tour this season. He is also the 13th player to win for the first time on the Asian Tour in 2018.

The Panasonic Open India is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and is the second leg of the 2018/19 Panasonic Swing, which is an aggregate points race that spans five events – in Thailand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan.

Did you know?

• Khalin Joshi became the fifth Indian, following Shubhankar Sharma, Rahil Gangjee, Viraj Madappa and Gaganjeet Bhullar, to win on the region’s premier Tour this season. He is also the 13th player to win for the first time on the Asian Tour in 2018.
• Joshi, who hails from Bengaluru, kept the trophy on home soil after becoming the seventh Indian to win the popular event, which was inaugurated in 2011. Australian Wade Ormsby, who won in 2013, remains the only foreign winner of the event.
• It was Joshi’s first ever victory at the Delhi Golf Club, despite having played numerous tournaments on the course since his junior days.
• Prior to his breakthrough, Joshi has come close to winning his maiden title on several occasions. His previous best result on the Asian Tour was a runner-up finish at the 2017 TAKE Solutions Masters, which was held on his home course in Bengaluru. He has also enjoyed two top-10 finishes this season prior to his win.
• Joshi, who turned professional in 2013, recorded his personal best 18-hole score at the Delhi Golf Club with his third-round 64. It was also the best score of the week.
• Joshi matched the lowest winning score of the tournament, set by compatriot Shiv Kapur in 2017, with his four-day total of 17-under-par 271.
• With this victory, Joshi moved up to 16th place on the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings and second place on the Panasonic Swing rankings.
• Siddikur Rahman was left to rue a missed opportunity on ending his five-year title drought. It was his third time finishing runner-up/joint runner-up in the event. He came in tied-second in 2012 and 2015.
• Siddikur holds an impeccable track record at the Delhi Golf Club. He won his second Asian Tour title in 2013, finished inside top-10 in four of his five attempts at the Panasonic Open India and has secured six top-10s in other Asian Tour events there.
• Siddikur entered the week in 97th place on the money list.His runner-up result would propel him to 53rd place on the latest Merit rankings, where he needs to stay inside top-60 at the end of the season to keep his Asian Tour card for 2019.
• Siddikur enjoyed his career-best season in 2013 when he came in fourth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. He has not finished outside top-60 on the money list in his last eight consecutive seasons on Tour since 2010.
• The 33-year-old Siddikur wrote a slice of history in 2010 when he became the first player from Bangladesh to win on the Asian Tour at the Brunei Open.
• Suradit Yongcharoenchai marked his third and second straight top-five result on the Asian Tour this season with his tied-third finish. He came in joint runner-up at the TAKE Solutions Masters in India in August and finished tied-fifth in Pakistan two weeks ago.
• He joined the play-for-pay ranks at a tender age of 16. He turned 20 years old today.

Players’ quotes:

Khalin Joshi (Ind) – Final round 68 (-4), Total 271 (-17)

I have no words honestly. It’s a huge monkey off 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. Like all night I was thinking about the 16th hole tee shot because that tee shot has haunted me for awhile now.

You know I am really relieved and really happy. I don’t know if it was nerves but just poor decision making I guess, starting off with two bogeys. But I still knew that there was a lot of golf to be played. I was playing well and it was just a matter of time.

You know the birdie I made on eighth gave me a lot of confidence that I am not very far away and I got to keep sticking to my game plan, I got to keep playing aggressive. You know like that’s all I did. Then again, I hit the driver on 18th and I played very aggressive and that’s what paid off.

This year I played very different from the previous years. I have seen many of the past champions going for it in two on the par fives. but I have been hitting 3 irons in the past. You know it was just believing in myself and playing aggressive golf. That was key for me this week.

Siddikur made a birdie on the 17th and I made a birdie on the 17th as well. I just knew I had the advantage because he didn’t have a driver.  I just knew that I had to keep it in play. But he had a great putt. You know he made a great putt on top of me, which is unbelievable but I just believed in myself. I played aggressive and I got a bad bounce just in the rough. But hitting it in the fairways keeping it out of the bush is key over here.

Winning my first Asian Tour event here means the world to me. Winning anyway was great but winning at Delhi Golf club was unbelievable. All the spectators and crowd over here were very supportive. I have a bunch of friends over here, it means a lot and hopefully I gave them a good show.

I have four big weeks coming up after this. I am going to go back work on my game and come back fresh for Hong Kong. It just gives me a sense of satisfaction for sure. I have come close a few times, a bunch of my friends have won. All of my close friends have won.

I told Rahil at the start of the week that I am leaving Bangalore, I hope I can be the Panasonic Open India champion and here I am standing with the trophy. Just very happy with the way I played all week, it has obviously given me a great sense of satisfaction.

Siddikur Rahman (Ban) – Final round 69 (-3), Total 272 (-16)

I played better than I did yesterday actually. 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.

I just played my game and enjoy the moment out there. I felt a little bit of pressure at the beginning but I didn’t let that get into me. I really enjoyed every single moment this week. It’s my best result after a long time.

I have been trying to get the win to get my card for next year. It’s been on the back of my mind. Although I didn’t win, I put in a better position to finish inside top-60 on the Habitat for Humanity Standings now.

A lot of positives to take from this week and I’m sure it will help me a lot.

Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha) – Final round 69 (-3), Total 274 (-14)

It’s still a good finish for me. I am happy with the result. I didn’t putt well today but it’s alright. I was trying to eagle the last hole. I hit it to right of the green and wanted to chip in but it went over the green and I missed the birdie putt.

Overall, it has been a good week. I am really happy with another top-five result. This season has been great for me. This week will give me a lot of confidence as well. I will take the next few weeks off and come back stronger in Hong Kong.

Scores after round 4 of the Panasonic Open India being played at the par 72, 6935 Yards Delhi GC course (am – denotes amateur):

271 – Khalin Joshi (IND) 71-68-64-68.

272 – Siddikur Rahman (BAN) 67-66-70-69.

274 – Suradit Yongcharoenchai (THA) 66-67-72-69, Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 67-67-70-70.

275 – Aman Raj (IND) 70-68-68-69.

276 – Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 68-67-73-68, Kshitij Naveed Kaul (IND) 72-66-70-68, Matt Stieger (AUS) 70-69-68-69.

277 – Settee Prakongvech (THA) 70-67-70-70.

278 – Jack Harrison (ENG) 69-68-74-67, Mukesh Kumar (IND) 71-67-72-68, Steven Jeffress (AUS) 71-71-68-68, M. Dharma (IND) 70-67-70-71, Yutaka Araki (JPN) 70-67-70-71.

280 – Karandeep Kochhar (IND) 69-76-67-68, Sachin Baisoya (IND) 70-70-67-73.

281 – Kapil Kumar (IND) 69-72-71-69, Peradol Panyathanasedh (THA) 68-74-70-69.

282 – Om Prakash Chouhan (IND) 72-74-68-68, Mithun Perera (LKA) 73-72-68-69, Tapy Ghai (IND) 67-72-72-71, Prom Meesawat (THA) 71-69-71-71, Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 71-69-71-71.

283 – Shiv Kapur (IND) 70-70-71-72, Chiragh Kumar (IND) 72-71-68-72, Jbe Kruger (RSA) 71-70-68-74.