Rashid Khan held a one-shot lead until the 71st hole in Taiwan
31-year-old Rashid Khan from New Delhi, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour, narrowly missed out on his 3rd title when local favourite Chan Shih-chang birdied the 2nd extra hole to beat Rashid in a playoff.
Rashid shot 67-65-73-68 (15-under 273) at the US$1 million Mercuries Taiwan Masters played at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club. After both players birdied the first extra hole Chan sealed the win with the next birdie which Khan could not match.
Rashid started the day as the co-leader at 11-under par and made five birdies by the 13th hole to build a three-shot lead but then Chan birdied the 15th and 18th while Rashid bogeyed 16 and 17 to send the tournament into a playoff.
Chan Shih-chang did not make a single birdie on 18 prior to Sunday. He made 3 in-a-row today to seal victory at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters ⛳️ #MTM20222 #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/HtYJfKAYE1
— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) October 2, 2022
Rashid Khan last won on the Asian Tour at the 2014 Chiangmai Golf Classic in Thailand and this week made US$ 120,000 to climb to 14th on the tour’s Order of Merit having made 11 cuts in 12 events this year. He now has two 2nd place finishes for the season in the space of 6 weeks.
Other Indians in the top 10 were Veer Ahlawat, who finished T8th and Shiv Kapur, who finished T10th.
Interestingly out of the 52 players who made the cut, 14 were Thai, 13 Indian and 13 local which shows the depth of Indian talent travelling on the Asian Tour these days.
Other Indians:
S.S.P. Chawrasia & Aman Raj – tied-15th at 3-under 285
Ajeetesh Sandhu – tied-21st at 1-under 287
Viraj Madappa, Honey Baisoya, Khalin Joshi & Chikkarangappa S. – tied-29th at 1-over 289
Rahil Gangjee – tied-39th at 3-over 291
M Dharma – tied-49th at 6-over 294
Udayan Mane – 55th at 8-over 296
Only Karandeep Kochhar of Chandigarh missed the cut, among the Indians.