Rahil Gangjee emerged as the best Indian in tied seventh place even as new Korean star Wang Jeunghun pipped Bangladesh’s Siddikur Rahman with a 72nd hole birdie by one shot in a dramatic finish at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on Sunday.
Wang, three behind with three to play, benefited from a double bogey and a bogey from Siddikur on 16 and 17 and then himself birdied the 18th, as Siddikur’s shot from the grassy area to the right of the green hit the flag and rolled past.
He missed the return putt for birdie, while Wang came out of the bunker perfectly and rolled in his five-foot birdie putt.
Wang collected his second European Tour win on the trot following his success at the Trophee Hassan last week, while Gangjee earned his third Top-10 of the season. Wang also had four other Top-10s this year.
Gangjee was done in a by a late double bogey on 16th and that cost him a chance of a Top-5 finish. At one point Gangjee was three-under through 15 holes for the day and had the best round of the day.
But on 16th, where the players hit into the breeze, his drive landed on a thick rough from where he managed only to hit the ball high and into the bushes and trees on the left, forcing him to take a ‘lost ball’. He ended with a double bogey and finished the day at one-under 71, the joint second best round of the day, and a total of three-over 291.
Gangjee was the best Indian while Jyoti Randhawa (73) at tied 12th and Arjun Atwal (72) and Rashid Khan (75) were tied 27th. Chiragh Kumar (76) and Daniel Chopra (76) were tied 50th, Jeev Milkha Singh (74) was tied 62nd and Himmat Rai (77) was tied 67th.
Gangjee was happy despite a lot of lip-outs and missed putts this week.
“I always enjoy coming to Mauritius. It’s half my home because my mother is from Mauritius. It’s great to have her coming out to support me. I sank a 15-footer for birdie on fourth. It was like the fastest putt I ever hit in my life,” he said.
“I just touched it and if it had not go into the hole, it would have gone at least 15 feet back. I picked up some momentum from there. I had a great birdie on the next as well because the winds were blowing hard sideways from the right and I holed from 15 feet. The birdie on the sixth came from 10-feet,” he added.
As for the double-bogey on 16th, he said, “I should have hit three-wood in but I hit a rescue instead. It just popped up and that was the end of it.”
