Tarlac, Philippines, 20-12-2015
Himmat Rai shoots sublime 63 for tied third at Philippine Open
Khalin Joshi narrowly misses tour card despite tied 10th finish
India’s Himmat Rai produced the round of the week, a sparkling error-free nine-under-63, to take a share of third place at 12-under-204 at the Philippine Open presented by ICTSI. Rai finished two shots behind the champion Filipino Miguel Tabuena at the US$300,000 Asian Tour event which was reduced to 54 holes due to bad weather earlier in the week.
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Indians Khalin Joshi (70) and Gaganjeet Bhullar (71) were the other two Indians in the top-10 at the Luisita Golf and Country Club as they totalled nine-under-207 to be tied 10th.
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Rai (71-70-63), who lost in a play-off to Sergio Garcia, two weeks ago in Vietnam, continued his good run of form by returning with a flawless card to finish tied third. He thus gained 29 places from his overnight tied 32nd. Himmat’s phenomenal surge on the final day helped him finish 31st in the final Asian Tour Order of Merit.ÂÂ
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“I didn’t have a number in my mind. I was thinking of eliminating my errors in round one and two. I wanted to play percentage golf and hitting it near the hole. I putted aggressively and that made a difference today,†said Rai, a one-time Asian Tour winner.
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The top-63 players on the final Order of Merit secured playing rights on the 2016 season.
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There was heart break for 23-year-old Khalin Joshi of India, who ended the season in 65th place on the Merit rankings to narrowly miss out on his exemption for 2016. Joshi had a good chance to seal his card after round two as he was placed tied seventh. But his final round of 70 resulted in him slipping to tied 10th.
Gaganjeet Bhullar slipped from overnight tied third to tied 10th after his last round of 71. He claimed 47th place in the Order of Merit.
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