Karandeep Kochhar registered his season’s best finish of 4th on the Asian Tour in Bangladesh
23-year-old Karandeep Kochhar of Chandigarh and Delhi’s Veer Ahlawat finished 4th and 8th respectively on the Asian Tour’s US$ 400,000 Bangabandhu Bangladesh Open, at the Kurmitola Golf Club in Dhaka.
Kochhar finished strongly on the weekend with rounds of 68-65 for a total of 7-under 277 and his best finish on the 2022 Asian Tour where he has made 9 cuts in 10 starts, with two top-20 finishes prior to last week including 15th at the Delhi GC Open and 16th in Thailand – both in March. His cheque of US$ 15,280 (₹12.4 lacs) in Dhaka moves him to 60th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit rankings.
Veer Ahlawat has registered four top-10s for the season on the Asian Tour
Veer Ahlawat was tied for third after 54 holes with rounds of 69-69-68 (7-under 206), but his final round 72 dropped him to 8th at 6-under 278, a stroke behind Kochhar.
Patna’s Aman Raj, Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi and Kolkota’s S.S.P. Chawrasia finished joint-22nd at 2-under 282 while Bangalorean Chikkarangappa was a further stroke back on T29th.
Other Indians in the field who survived the cut, which was set at 3-over 145, were Udayan Mane, who tied for 47th at 3-over 287, Rashid Khan and Viraj Madappa, who tied for 57th at 7-over 291
Indian players who missed the cut were Divyanshu Bajaj and Honey Baisoya.
The tournament was won by Thailand’s Danthai Boonma, who posted a four-round aggregate of 13-under-par 271 to win by one shot over his close friend and Kosuke Hamamoto.
The Asian Tour will now head to Indonesia for its final event of the season, the US$ 1.5mn BNI Indonesian Masters from Dec.1-4 at Royale Jakarta Golf Club.
Indians who finish in the top 60 of the Asian Tour season ending rankings will retain full playing rights for what is expected to be a record breaking prize money season in 2023.