New Delhi: India\u2019s Anirban Lahiri successfully defended his title at the SAIL-SBI Open presented by Incredible India, Ministry of Tourism following a thrilling play-off victory over young countryman Rashid Khan on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old Lahiri birdied the 18th hole from 10 feet in regulation play to force extra-time and then claimed his third Asian Tour victory with a four-foot birdie conversion on the same hole in front of a large gallery at the Delhi Golf Club.\n<\/p>\n
The two were tied at 15-under after 72 holes after Lahiri birdied the 18th for the fourth day in a row. Then Lahiri birdied the 18th in the play-off yet again \u2013 this one for the fifth time this week \u2013 and it gave him the title.<\/p>\n
Lahiri became only the second Indian to successful defend as Asian tour title \u2013 the first was Jyoti Randhawa who did that with Hero Honda Masters in 1998 and 1999 and then again when he won Hero Indian Open in 2006 and 2007.<\/p>\n
It was a great week for the Indians, as Lahiri and Rashid were one-two while Shiv Kapur (70) was fourth at 10-under, one behind Bangladeshi Siddikur, who logged his fourth top-5 in last two years at this course. As many as seven Indians finished in top-15 and ties.<\/p>\n
There was heartbreak for Khalin Joshi, the early leader in the tournament. He closed the week with a triple bogey on 18th and from a top-5 he dropped to tied 11th. A top-5 would have ensured a spot in the event at Chiangmai later this month. Khalin carded 76 and ended at six-under, while Shankar Das (67) was tied 15th alongside Ajeetesh Sandhu (72) and Vinod Kumar (71) at five-under.<\/p>\n
Rashid, 22, gave himself a great chance of a maiden title on the region\u2019s premier Tour with a superb final round of six-under-par 66 which included a closing birdie but he could not prevent a dominant Lahiri, who signed off with a 68, from grabbing the winner\u2019s cheque of US$54,000.
Overnight leader Siddikur of Bangladesh closed with a disappointing 73 to finish third, four shots behind the play off duo while Shiv Kapur of India settled for fourth place after a 70. Thailand\u2019s Pawin Ingkhapradit and Australian rookie Matthew Stieger ended in tied fifth place.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not sunk in. I\u2019m still in disbelief that I made the putt in regulation and got into the play-off. After that, in the next 15 minutes, I didn\u2019t know what happened. Unfortunately for Rashid, it didn\u2019t work out for him. I feel bad for him as he doesn\u2019t have a card on the Asian Tour. He\u2019s got a bright future ahead of him,\u201d said a gracious Lahiri, who ended the week on 15-under-par 273 with Khan.
The final round of the US$300,000 event, which is part of the Asian Tour\u2019s milestone 10th season celebration in 2013, was a nail-biting affair with Rashid and Lahiri exchanging leads on the back nine.<\/p>\n
The slender Rashid, playing in the penultimate group, brilliantly birdied his 72nd hole from three feet but could do very little as Lahiri coolly matched his closing birdie from 10 feet to force the play-off.<\/p>\n
Lahiri was overjoyed to taste victory for the third time at the demanding Delhi course, which he disliked early on in his career. \u201cI feel great winning here again. In regulation play standing over the 10 -footer, I took my time and decided what I wanted to do. I think this is the calmest I\u2019ve ever been in that situation,\u201d said Lahiri.<\/p>\n
Rashid, who grew up at the Delhi course, held his head up high. \u201cI played really good. Holed good putts and played really well this week. Starting with a par 72 on the first day and losing in a play-off, it\u2019s disappointing,\u201d said Khan, who picked up US$33,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the play-off, I just misread my third shot and hit it too far right (to 15 feet of the flag). I wasn\u2019t too sure of the line and hit it a bit right. I was expecting Anirban to make birdie in regulation. He\u2019s won here twice before and I knew it was going to be a play-off. I was prepared for it but it didn\u2019t work out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Siddikur, who has three top-fives at the course in the past two seasons, started brilliantly with two opening birdies to cement his lead early on but four bogeys in his next seven holes derailed his hopes of a second Asian Tour title.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, I was totally off. My hitting was bad. From the centre of the fairway, I made three bogeys on four, 13 and 17. The balls were going too long,\u201d said the Bangladeshi. \u201cI saw Anirban and Rashid going up the leaderboard but I couldn\u2019t catch them. I couldn\u2019t make the birdies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kapur, who started the day four shots behind the leader, had a double bogey on the second and never recovered. \u201cThe setback was at the second early in the round. Being seven back, it was going to be hard. I kept burning the edges today, had a stone-cold putter. Hit a lot of good putts which didn\u2019t drop, especially on the back nine. If they had dropped early, I could have challenged. I needed to hole a few putts but I didn\u2019t. Disappointing but looking forward. The game is good. I\u2019m getting into the hunt often enough. I\u2019m going to Avantha next week and back here again in three weeks. I\u2019m feeling pretty good about that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi: India\u2019s Anirban Lahiri successfully defended his title at the SAIL-SBI Open presented by Incredible India, Ministry of Tourism following a thrilling play-off victory over young countryman Rashid Khan on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old Lahiri birdied the 18th hole from 10 feet in regulation play to force extra-time and then claimed his third Asian Tour victory with a four-foot birdie conversion on the same hole in front of a large gallery at the Delhi Golf Club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-isn-front-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n