Khalin Joshi celebrates after sinking
his seven-foot birdie putt for victory
Khalin Joshi poses with the
Panasonic Open India trophy
KHALIN JOSHI BREAKS VICTORY BARRIER
WITH A GALLANT FINAL ROUND PERFORMANCE AT PANASONIC
OPEN INDIA, INDIA’S STRANGLEHOLD CONTINUES AT EVENT
I
ndian
golfers
maintained
their
stranglehold over the Asian Tour’s
Panasonic Open India trophy as
Bengaluru lad Khalin Joshi broke the victory
barrier at the Delhi Golf Club.
Joshi(71-68-64-68), who had been a runner-
up on the Asian Tour on two previous
occasions, produced a gallant ¿ nal round
performance of four-under-68 at the US$
400,000 event to seal the title with a one-shot
margin. His total of 17-under-271 was the
joint lowest in the history of the tournament
as he equaled Shiv Kapur’s record from last
year.
The 26-year-old Khalin, the overnight joint
Ajeetesh Sandhu secures
tied third, Aman Raj is fi fth,
debutant Kshitij Naveed Kaul
claims impressive tied sixth
leader, also became the seventh Indian to win
the tournament in a total of eight editions.
Bangladesh’s Md Siddikur Rahman, who was
the overnight joint leader along with Joshi,
¿ nished runner-up at 16-under-272.
72
GolfPlus
India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu ¿ nished tied third at
14-under-274.
The two other exceptional performances by
Indians came from 23-year-old Aman Raj
who posted a career-best ¿ fth place ¿ nish on
the Asian Tour at 13-under-275and 17-year-
old rookie Kshitij Naveed Kaul who made an
impressive professional debut by claiming
tied sixth place at 12-under-276.
Khalin Joshi didn’t start the ¿ nal round as per
his expectations as he stumbled with bogeys
on the ¿ rst and third due to a couple of bad
breaks.
However, the man with two top-10s on the
Asian Tour earlier this season, displayed
tremendous grit thereafter to launch a brave
Ajeetesh Sandhu finished tied third
NOVEMBER
2018
¿ ghtback. Khalin began to turn it around with
birdies on the eighth and 10thbefore striking
it rich towards the end with four birdies on the
last ¿ ve holes.
Khalin, tied for the lead with Siddikur after
17 holes, became the second new Indian
winner on the Asian Tour this year after Viraj
Madappa when he sank the all-important
seven-foot birdie putt on the 18th for victory.
Khalin’s success was the sixth by an Indian
on the international level this year. It also
accounted for the ¿ fth win by an Indian on the
Asian Tour in 2018.
Joshi took home a prize purse of US$ 72,000 to
climb to 16th in the Asian Tour Order of Merit
and into the lead in the PGTI Order of Merit.
Aman Raj’s fifth place finish was his
best on the Asian Tour
Teenager Kshitij Naveed Kaul made
an impressive professional debut by
claiming tied sixth place