New Delhi: India's S S P Chowrasia missed a much-needed birdie putt on the last hole as Bangladesh golfer Mohammad Siddikur clinched the 50th Hero Indian Open title by just one stroke despite turning in a poor three-over 75 in the final round of the Asian Tour event here Sunday.
Chowrasia (69, 68, 66), who finished runner-up twice in the Indian Open, could come up with an even-par 72 to finish with a total of 13-under 275 and shared the second spot with compatriot Anirban Lahiri, who carded a two-under 70 today.
Lagging by just one stroke going into the last hole, Chowrasia's approach shot landed just four feet away from the pin, but the Kolkata golfer could not make the much-needed birdie to push it to the play-off as Siddikur held on to his one-stroke lead after parring the 18th hole.
One stroke behind Chowrasia and Anirban were the quartet of Rashid Khan (72), Baek Seuk-hyun of Korea (68), Chiragh Kumar (68) and Angelo Que (72) of Phillipines. The punishing Delhi Golf Course bared its fangs to overnight leader Siddikur as he stumbled upon five bogeys and a triple bogey against five birdies to almost see his title hopes going up in smoke.
Siddikur faltered for the first time in the tournament as he suffered a slump after carding 66 66 and 67 in the first three rounds but none of the golfers from the chasing pack including Chowrasia, Anirban and Angelo, could grab the opportunity.
In fact, the only time, the scores were levelled was when Siddikur had dropped a bogey at the 16th that made it a four-way tie among Siddikur, Chowrasia, Angelo and Anirban, but a birdie on the next hole turned up to be the turning point as it helped the Bangladesh golfer to keep his nose ahead.
"I am very happy to win today. It was a long day and I played a few bad shots but I was confident of winning. After winning in Brunei, I was desperate for a win and this week has been the best of my life," Siddikur said.
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