ON THE ASIAN TO UR
Khalin Joshi becomes India’s latest champion on Asian Tour
L to R: Cho Minn Thant, Manish Sharma, Khalin Joshi, Uttam Mundy, Maj. (Retd) Ravinder Singh Bedi (VRC)
halin Joshi ¿ nally got the monkey
off his back. After three Top-10
¿ nishes this season, Joshi, who
has twice before ¿ nished runner-up at
Asian Tour events, ended his wait for a
maiden triumph with a win at the eighth
edition of the Panasonic Open India. Khalin
roaring back from two early bogeys at
the testing Delhi Golf Club, the 26-year-
old Bengaluru pro bounced back with six
birdies, including a birdie-birdie ¿ nish as
he had four birdies in the last ¿ ve holes.
He became the ¿ fth Indian to win an Asian
Tour title in 2018 after Shubhankar Sharma
(Maybank Championships), Rahil Gangjee
(Panasonic Open Japan), Gaganjeet Bhullar
(Fiji International), Viraj Madappa (Take
Solutions Masters) and now Joshi. In between
Gangjee also won the Louis Philippe Cup
on the Asian Development Tour. Joshi also
became the seventh Indian winner in eight
editions of the Panasonic Open India. As
Joshi equalled 2017 champion Shiv Kapur’s
best winning score of 17-under to emerge
champion, Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh
(69) was second, his third runner-up ¿ nish
at Panasonic Open and ¿ fth Top-10 at the
event in last ¿ ve starts. Ajeetesh Sandhu
(70), T-2 last year here, had one unlucky
bounce on the 14th, which ended in a bogey
and he Tied-3rd at 14-under with Suradit
Yongcharoenchai (69). Aman Raj, 23, who
still does not have full playing rights on the
Asian Tour, ¿ nished sole ¿ fth, which was his
best ¿ nish on the Asian Tour, bettering his
T-16 at the same event last year. Indians once
again had a great week with six ¿ nishers in
the Top-14 and eight in the Top-16.
Khalin Joshi
Top-20 players on the Habitat for Humanity Standings
Pos Player Order of Merit 1 Shubhankar SHARMA (IND) $695,993.55 11 Rahil GANGJEE (IND) $302,628.50
2 Sanghyun PARK (KOR) $561,898.62 12 Minchel CHOI (KOR) $286,555.97
3 Matt WALLACE (ENG) $446,660.00 13 Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA) $253,308.97
4 Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) $422,936.53 14 Berry HENSON (USA) $253,020.60
5 Scott VINCENT (ZIM) $420,887.60 15 Paul PETERSON (USA) $241,148.57
6 Justin HARDING (RSA) $395,977.88 16 Khalin JOSHI (IND) $222,432.42
7 John CATLIN (USA) $383,132.18 17 Adilson DA SILVA (BRA) $221,440.05
8 Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) $372,480.89 18 Shaun NORRIS (RSA) $201,156.39
9 Sihwan KIM (USA) $341,763.77 19 Prom MEESAWAT (THA) $189,611.13
10 Yuta IKEDA (JPN) $338,671.47 20 Danthai BOONMA (THA) $173,358.05
GolfPlus
NOVEMBER
2018
29