Indian golfer Jyoti Randhawa turned in his second successive Top-10 finish on the Asian Tour, as he finished 10th despite a late double bogey in the final round of the inaugural World Classic Championship at the Laguna National here today.
Randhawa (72) was the best Indian at sole 10th at four-over 288. The next best Indian was Gaganjeet Bhullar (73) one shot behind him in Tied-11th.
Last week Randhawa was Tied-4th at Panasonic Open and is now showing signs of the form that made him Asia No. 1 in 2002 and among the Top stars of Asia till some years back. His last win came in Thailand in 2009, but in 2014 he had three Top-10s.
S Chikka, who went into the final day in Tied-third, had a disappointing day as he ended with a round of nine-over 80 with six bogey, two doubles and just one birdie to crash land to Tied-30th at nine-over 293.
On the treacherous World Classic Course, dubbed 'Asia's toughest test' because of its treacherous slopes and tricky greens, SSP Chawrasia brought in an even par 71 and jumped from Tied-41st to Tied-20th at eight-over.
Also at Tied-20th was Rashid Khan (73) and Daniel Chopra (71) was Tied-17th.
Khalin Joshi (77) tied 37th with Chiragh Kumar (71), while Shiv Kapur (76) was Tied-43rd. Shubhankar Sharma (78) was Tied-54th and Abhijit Chadha (84) was 64th.
Danthai Boonma's cautious and patient strategy proved to be the winning formula when he emerged triumphant after carding a final two-under 69 on Sunday. The young Thai was one of only two players to have broken par after four days of punishing and tense battle with the region's heavyweights at the USD 750,000 Asian Tour event.
Danthai's winning total of two-under 282 was enough to give him a slender one-shot victory over Malaysia's Nicholas Fung, who was the other player to end the week with a red number.
In the lead group, Chikka (80) and Siddikur (82) crash landed, while Fung (72) managed to hang in for second.
Korea's Jeunghun Wang signed off with a 69 to finish in third place ahead of Australia's Sam Brazel who secured fourth place with his 285 total.
From the start of the week, the 19-year-old, who won two gold medals at the 2012 South East Asia (SEA) Games, always knew it was going to be a tight contest at the World Classic Course.
After emerging as the last man standing, Danthai, who is playing in his first year as a professional, was clearly elated with his breakthrough victory on the region's premier Tour.
“I'm so excited and happy that I'm now a champion on the Asian Tour,” exclaimed Danthai, who took home the winner's prize purse of USD 135,000.
Fung's challenge at the World Classic Championship effectively came to an end at the par-four 16 where he
three-putted for a bogey.
“The hole that cost me the title this week was the 16th hole where I missed a two-foot putt to save par.”
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