Classic Golf & Country Club Championship: India’s Rashid Khan finishes joint second
The hat-trick of birdies from the 13th hole firmly placed Rory Hie beyond the reach of second-placed India’s Rashid Khan and Korea’s Byungjun Kim and won him his maiden pro title at the Classic Golf & Country Club International championship. Overall 10 Indians managed finished in the top-20.
A bogey on the 15th tee cost Rashid Khan the Classic Golf & Country Club International Championship title as Indonesian Rory Hie secured the title in Gurugram on Sunday.
Once the world’s No. 6 amateur, Rory, carded a final round of 68 to total 21-under 267 while Rashid carded 69 to finish at 19-under 269 alongside Korean Byungjun Kim (67). Rory, who first played in India at the same club 10 years ago, ended his long winless streak with this title.
For a few moments on the back nine, Rory was headed by Kim before he, Kim and Rashid briefly formed a trio at the top at 19-under. Rory birdied 14th and 15th to sneak ahead to 21-under, while Rashid bogeyed the 15th to fall back and could only birdie the 18th to finish at 19th. Kim did not drop any shots but was also unable to find any birdies in the closing stages as Rory won by two shots, making him the first Indonesian winner on the Asian Tour.
However, there was much to cheer for the Indians as a bunch of promising young Indian stars finished in prominent positions with four of them featuring in the top-eight. Overall 10 Indians finished in the top-20.
India’s new pro, Aadil Bedi (66) playing only his seventh Asian Tour start, registered his career-high fourth place at 18-under. Aman Raj (66) equaled his career-best and Abhijit Chadha (71) achieved a new personal best on Asian Tour. Both Aman and Abhijit were tied-fifth at 16-under.
Another six Indian players managed to grab a spot inside the top-20.
Veer Ahlawat (66) and Karan Pratap Singh (67) were tied-13th at 12-under and another four of the Indians, Kshitij Naveed Kaul (67), Karandeep Kochhar (68), Shivendra Singh Sisodia (68) and Viraj Madappa (69) were tied-17th at 11-under, making it 10 Indians in top-20.
On Sunday, Rashid had moved to within one shot of Rory.
“I was just one shot behind after the 14th but hit a bad shot on the 15th which I bogeyed and Rory birdied. Just could not recover from that,” he told the PTI.
This was Rashid’s third Top-10 finish in six starts on the Asian Tour this year as well as his best finish on the Asian Tour since his tied second at Panasonic Open in 2016.
“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,” the Indian said.
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