26-year-old Karandeep Kochhar from Chandigarh’s first week back as an Asian Tour member ended with a fourth-place finish, but also a reminder of how quickly momentum can shift at the top level.
A multiple winner on the PGTI, he carded rounds of 74-69-65-77 to finish at 3-under 285 at the US$ 500,000 Philippine Golf Championship in Manila.
Kochhar surged into the lead with a course-record 7-under 65 in the third round and began Sunday two shots clear, but struggled to find rhythm in the final round. A closing 77 saw him slip to fourth in his first start since regaining his Asian Tour card, earned after a win on the Asian Development Tour in Egypt last November and a fifth-place finish on the season rankings.
Shubham Jaglan, the recent PGTI Qualifying tournament champion in Ahmedabad, chose to skip the PGTI season opener to focus on the Asian Tour. The USF graduate posted 77-70-69-75 to finish tied-29th at 3-over 291.
Ajeetesh Sandhu ended tied-44th at 5-over, while rookie Shaurya Bhattacharya finished tied-55th at 7-over.
Two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid Khan was the only Indian to miss the cut after rounds of 75-74.
Veteran Gaganjeet Bhullar did not feature this week and is expected to focus on the International Series events later in the season, as he did last year.
Photo – Asian Tour
