India's Rahil Gangjee, who was well-poised for a good finish after three rounds, faltered on the front nine on the final day and slipped from tied 18th to tied 47th position in Kansai Open Golf Championship here on Sunday.
Gangjee carded 5-over 76.
The seasoned Indian, who shot 66-68 in the middle two rounds, dropped two double bogeys on the front nine on Par-4 third and Par-3 eighth. He seemed to give himself some breathing space with back-to-back birdies on 10th and 11th, but bogeys on 12th, 14th and 16th spelt disaster with a card of 76.
A day earlier he had four birdies and a bogey in 68.
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This was the second start of 2021 for Gangjee, who missed the cut in Token Homemate Cup last week. Next week Gangjee will tee up at the Crowns.
Rikuya Hoshino made up for his loss in a play-off in 2019 by winning his fourth JGTO title.
The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Hoshino, who won once each in 2018, 2019 and 2020 made it the fourth year in a row with a win. A day earlier, the 24-year-old Rikuya shot 68 to jump into a shared lead with Chan Kim and Kunihiro Kamii.
In 2019, Rikuya lost to his senior college mate, Tomoharu Otsuki, in the playoffs and earlier in the week had said that he had to get the job done this year.
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