Macao Master

Macau, October 22 

Gaganjeet Bhullar romped home to a three-shot victory at the Macao Open to bag his eighth title on the Asian Tour here today. Bhullar etched his name on the Macao Open trophy for the second time, having previously won the event in 2012.

Bhullar (64-65-74-68) was unstoppable on the final day of the $500,000 event as he carded a 3-under 68 to end up with a winning total of 13-under.

Ajeetesh Sandhu (66-67-71-70), fresh from his twin triumphs in Taiwan and Japan over the last two weeks, finished tied-2nd at 10-under, alongside Angelo Que (69) of the Philippines.

Bhullar, the overnight leader by one shot, put behind the disappointment of an ordinary third round to bounce back in Round 4 with seven birdies at the cost of two bogeys and a double-bogey.

Bhullar started the day with a bogey to concede his outright lead and slip into the joint lead along with Sandhu. But he rallied with six birdies over the next 12 holes to build a healthy five-shot lead. Despite the bogey and double-bogey on the 14th and 16th holes, Bhullar marched to his first Asian Tour title in about a year with a birdie on the closing hole.

The 29-year-old from Kapurthala has now equalled Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa’s record of most wins (8) by an Indian on the Asian Tour.

It was also Bhullar’s third wire-to-wire victory of his career following the triumphs in the Macao Open in 2012 and the Indonesia Open in 2013. Bhullar had last tasted international success just about a year back at the Asian Tour’s Indonesia Open.

Bhullar now has nine international wins to his credit, including one on the European Challenge Tour. Interestingly, it is the third time an Indian has won the Macao Open. Anirban Lahiri had won it in 2014.

Sandhu, who was overnight tied-2nd, had an encouraging start to the day when he sank two birdies in the first four holes. However, he soon slipped out of contention after a string of bogeys on the seventh, 10th and 14th.

He, however, managed to finish joint-2nd after a late flourish which saw him birdie the 16th and 18th.

Rashid Khan shot a stunning final round of a 7-under 64, the day’s best, to climb 19 places to tied-5th at 6-under. Chiragh Kumar also finished inside the top-20. He was tied-19th at even-par. Shubhankar Sharma was a stroke back in tied-24th.

S Chikkarangappa was 33rd at 3-over, Himmat Rai was tied-58th at 8-over, Khalin Joshi was tied-66th at 10-over and M Dharma was 70th at 18-over. — PTI