2009 ASIAN Tour: JOHNNIE WALKER CAMBODIAN OPEN

[ajay]

The final round has begun. The contest is on! The leader is still Himmat Rai! But he needs lot of himmat to keep away KJ Choi, Retief Goosen and some other challengers.

On first hole, Himmat got a par and KJ Choi made a birdie to take share of the lead with Himmat. Second hole and both of them score a birdie. Mean while Retief, who was way back, has a sensational start with birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle. Now after 7 holes he is -6 for the day and at -11 a strong contender.

Update: Goosen scores another birdie (5th) to go to tied 3rd spot with Darren Beck at -12, just two strokes behind Himmat and KJ.

Update, KJ takes the lead at -15 with 3rd birdie in a row, while Himmat got a bogey . Thats suddenly a two stroke difference. Mean while Rahil Gangjee also got his 3rd birdie in 4th hole to take tied 5th spot. Current scores

1 K.J. CHOI -3 -15 3
2 Himmat RAI E -13 3
3 Retief GOOSEN -7 -12 8
3 Darren BECK 4 E -12 3
5 Rahil GANGJEE -3 -11 4
18 Anirban LAHIRI -1 -7 6
18 Gaganjeet BHULLAR -1 -7 6

Rahil Gangjee scores 4th birdie to join the gang of 5 along with Goosen at 3rd spot. He is also in contention now. Nice to see 2 Indians contending. Meanwhile Gaganjeet also moves up to 13th position with a birdie on 7th hole.

Himmat gets a birdie to reduce the gap from KJ by a single stroke.
Chang breaks away from the gang to takes sole 3rd spot pushing Goosen, Gangjee and others to 4th spot.

1 K.J. CHOI 68 64 -3 -15 4
2 Himmat RAI 64 67 -1 -14 4
3 CHANG Tse-peng 65 68 -2 -13 5
4 Retief GOOSEN 69 70 -7 -12 10
4 Chapchai NIRAT 69 65 -2 -12 5
4 Rahil GANGJEE 69 67 -4 -12 5
4 Darren BECK 68 64 E -12 4

Bhullar scores a birdie and Lahiri scores 2 birdies from last update. Both of them break into top 10 at -9.

1 K.J. CHOI -3 -15 5
2 Himmat RAI -1 -14 5
3 CHANG Tse-peng -2 -13 6
4 Retief GOOSEN -7 -12 10
4 Rahil GANGJEE -4 -12 7
4 Chapchai NIRAT -2 -12 6
7 Darren BECK 1 -11 5
10 Anirban LAHIRI -3 -9 9
10 Gaganjeet BHULLAR -3 -9 9

Update: Goosen and KJ score birdies, KJ open 2 stroke lead over Himmat Rai. Meanwhile Bhullar and Lahiri are pushed to 11th.

Update: KJ is flying away as he scores his 5th birdie, Himmat now needs some magic touch to catch him. Goosen and Bhullar fall back with a bogey.

Update: Rahile scores a double bogey , while Lahiri scores a birdie and now both are -10 and tied at 7th spot. Lahiri with 4 birdies is having the best among Indians.

1 2 K.J. CHOI 68 64 -5 -17 7
2 1 Himmat RAI 64 67 -1 -14 7
3 4 CHANG Tse-peng 65 68 -2 -13 8
4 22 Retief GOOSEN 69 70 -7 -12 13
4 5 Chapchai NIRAT 69 65 -2 -12 8
7 14 Anirban LAHIRI 69 69 -4 -10 11
7 8 Rahil GANGJEE 69 67 -2 -10 9
16 14 Gaganjeet BHULLAR 69 69 -2 -8 11

[Saniapower]

K.J. CHOI will definite gonna win this whole thing.
I'm a bit surprised with the fact that Gaganjeet Bhullar is not been able to perform as par expectation. I rated him very highly just after Jeev Milkha among other indian golfers but ever since he won the Indonesian title it seems that things has fallen apart . After that only 1 good finish from Bhullar and all below average outing by his standard.

[ajay]

The play is suspended due to lightning . KJ Choi has left everybody behind and he is the favorite to win the tournament. The competition is now for 2nd spot. Bhullar makes a second consecutive bogey to fall back further.

1 2 K.J. CHOI 68 64 -5 -17 8
2 1 Himmat RAI 64 67 -1 -14 8
3 22 Retief GOOSEN 69 70 -8 -13 14
3 4 CHANG Tse-peng 65 68 -2 -13 9
5 5 Chapchai NIRAT 69 65 -2 -12 9
8 14 Anirban LAHIRI 69 69 -4 -10 12
8 8 Rahil GANGJEE 69 67 -2 -10 10
19 14 Gaganjeet BHULLAR 69 69 -1 -7 12


Bhullar is one of the few talented youngsters who has taken a big leap recently. But the likes of Lahiri and Himmat Rai are no less. Future Indian golf scene is quite bright.

[ajay]

Himmat Rai held on to his 2nd spot till the last hole, but a bogey on 18th pushed him to 3rd place, tied with Goosen. Congratulations for a good tournament. This should give a big boost to his confidence and career. Hopefully, we will continue to get more good results from him and other youngsters.

This is the first time Himmat had been in contention and led for two days. With the likes of KJ Choi and Goosen chasing him, it was always a hard task for a newcomer to win it. KJ made it a no-contest very early as he took a lead of 3 strokes. Ultimately, he won by 4 strokes over Chapchai Nirat. Nirat, who was behind Nirat, made two birdies in last two holes to catch up with Himmat. Himmat missed a birdie on par 5 17th and finished with a bogey.

Rahil Gangjee(15th) dropped out of top 10 in the back 9 with a bogey on 18th. But Lahiri(9th) made sure that one more Indian finished in top 10. Bhullar(24th) hit a bad patch in back 9 when he had 3 continuous bogeys and he could never recover from there.

I'll update the final scores later sometime.

[PKBasu]

Excellent tournament for Himmat Rai, and a pretty good one for Anirban Lahiri as well. A pity that Himmat couldn't sustain his lead at the halfway mark, but this was an excellent result in a strong field. Rai, Lahiri and Bhullar are an impressive trio from the next generation of Indian pros!

[ajay]

Quotes from a report.

Rai, who was aiming for his maiden Asian Tour victory, was pleased with his best finish this season when he ended his campaign with five birdies against three bogeys.

“It feels good and satisfying to know that I played so well. Overall it has been a great tournament for me. Playing with K.J Choi and the things that I learnt from him is unbelievable. His concentration is very good and he hit some really great shots,” said Rai.

“Having played so well this week, I’m beginning to feel much more confident about my game. I’m just looking forward to playing more on the Asian Tour and playing my heart out,” added the Indian.

Final scores for Indian players:

3 Himmat RAI  64 67 70 -15 201 $55,150.00
9 Anirban LAHIRI 69 69 68 -10 206 $17,900.00
15 Rahil GANGJEE  69 67 71 -9 207 $14,400.00
24 Gaganjeet BHULLAR  69 69 72 -6 210 $10,050.00
47 Ashok KUMAR  70 69 75 -2 214 $4,333.33
47 C. MUNIYAPPA  70 71 73 -2 (214)* $4,333.33
47 Jyoti RANDHAWA 71 69 74 -2 214 $4,333.33
56 Digvijay SINGH  71 71 73 -1 (215)* $3,350.00
62 S.S.P. CHOWRASIA  70 69 77 E 216 $2,900.00

[jaydeep]

Good earning for Himmat and Anirban.

[ajay]

Nice comments by KJ Choi about Himmat

Choi, an Asian Tour honorary member, was thoroughly impressed with the Indian and predicted Rai would make it to the US PGA Tour if he can maintain his progress.

"Himmat is a very good player. He is a long hitter and has a lot of control. The only thing that I would point out is that he has the tendency to hit it too fast but overall he has a good game," said Choi, who won in Malaysia by four strokes.

"I told him that he definitely has to come over to the US PGA Tour because he has the game to excel. The only thing that would set him apart is the mental game. As long as he can make his mental game stronger and work on some of his weakness like the tempo of his swing, I think he definitely can compete with the guys in the US," said the Korean.

Rai showed poise beyond his years to give himself a chance of winning his first Asian Tour title. He led into the third and final round in Johor but Choi overtook him with a fantastic closing round of 64.

The Indian is now ranked 46th on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit with $75,986, with the top-65 players keeping their playing rights for next year. He now hopes to put his lessons to valuable use for the remainder of the season.

"It feels good and satisfying to know that I played so well. Overall it has been a great tournament for me. Playing with KJ Choi and the amount that I learnt from him is unbelievable," Rai said.

"His concentration is very good and he hit some really great shots. Having played so well, I'm beginning to feel much confident about my game. I'm just looking forward to playing on the Asian Tour and playing my heart out," added the Indian.

[ajay]

This week in Asian tour we have 7 players including talented teenager Rashid Khan who is yet to turn pro. So far 5 out of 7 of them have finished their rounds. The surprise leader among Indians is Vikrant Chopra, just 1 stroke behind the trio of tournament leaders at -4. Here are the current scores:

T4 Vikrant CHOPRA 69 -3 (69)
T9 Anirban LAHIRI 70 -2 (70)*
T9 Rahil GANGJEE 70 -2 (70)
T9 Shiv KAPUR -2 -2 9*
T69 Rashid KHAN [A] 73 1 (73)*
T69 Amandeep JOHL 73 1 (73)
T69 Himmat RAI 1 1 6


Update: At the end of round 1:
T8 Vikrant CHOPRA 69 -3 (69)
T14 Shiv KAPUR 69 -2 (70)*
T14 Anirban LAHIRI 70 -2 (70)*
T14 Rahil GANGJEE 70 -2 (70)
T58 Rashid KHAN [A] 73 1 (73)*
T58 Amandeep JOHL 73 1 (73)
-- Himmat RAI retd.

Top 65 and ties make the cut. So far all 6 remaining Indians are set to make cut. Rashid making the cut will be a big achievment for him and a next step of his career. Go Rashid! Go Indians!

[vidhyashankar]

Update:
Himmat Rai Retires at +4 and shiv finishes R1 with a score of -2.

[vidhyashankar]

Shiv Kapur was jointly in the lead during the day but a 66 from Craig smith(WAL) towards the end of the day pushed shiv down to T2 with 3 others..Shiv is just 2 shots behind the leader though..Rashid khan misses the cut...Vikrant chopra was the second best Indian with a two day total of -4(140) and he is T13...Anirbhan Lahiri is -3 and T15...Rahil Gangjee is -2(T23) and Amandeep Johl is +1(T48)..

After R2:
T2 Shiv KAPUR 70 67 -7 (137)*
T13 Vikrant CHOPRA 69 71 -4 (140)
T15 Anirban LAHIRI 70 71 -3 (141)*
T23 Rahil GANGJEE 70 72 -2 (142)
T48 Amandeep JOHL 73 72 1 (145)
--------------cut------------------
T75 Rashid KHAN [A] 73 74 +3 (147)*

[vidhyashankar]

Not a good day for any of our guys as none of them went under par today. Shiv dropped 2 shots to fall back to -5 and he is currently T6...He is 5 shots behind the leader at -10.

After R3:
1 Craig SMITH 69 66 71 -10 (206)
2 Annop TANGKAMOLPRASERT 68 69 70 -9 (207)
3 Sattaya SUPUPRAMAI 71 70 68 -7 (209)
4 Shaaban HUSSIN 71 67 72 -6 (210)
4 Pariya JUNHASAVASDIKUL 68 70 72 -6 (210)
T6 Shiv KAPUR 70 67 74 -5 (211)
T28 Vikrant CHOPRA 69 71 75 -1(215)
T28 Rahil GANGJEE 70 72 73 -1 (215)
T33 Anirban LAHIRI 70 71 75 E(216)
73 Amandeep JOHL 73 72 81 10 (226)

[Saniapower]

Shiv managed a 2 under score today and achieved a top 3 finish Day's best score came from Anirban Lahiri who managed a 4 under par 68 and finished T13.
After R4

1 Marcus BOTH 70 69 73 67 -9 (279)
2 Shaaban HUSSIN 71 67 72 70 -8 (280)
T3 Annop TANGKAMOLPRASERT 68 69 70 74 -7 (281)
T3 Shiv KAPUR 70 67 74 70 -7 (281)
T3 Mardan MAMAT 74 70 70 67 -7 (281)
T6 Will YANAGISAWA 71 67 75 69 -6 (282)
T6 Pariya JUNHASAVASDIKUL 68 70 72 72 -6 (282)
T6 Craig SMITH 69 66 71 76 -6 (282)
T13 Anirban LAHIRI 70 71 75 68 -4 (284)
17 Vikrant CHOPRA 69 71 75 70 -3 (285)
38 Rahil GANGJEE 70 72 73 74 1 (289)

[ajay]

Good to see Shiv Kapur making top 3. He got in contention starting from 2nd round remained up there for the rest of the tournament. Today a double bogey on 6th hole proves to be costly as it stopped Shiv Kapur's march to the top. Nice to see Anirban coming up with a good round and finish in top 15. Looking back, the disastrous 3rd day for all Indians really killed their chances for a better showing.
Overall a good satisfying tournament for Indians. Good job!

[PKBasu]

Nice to see Shiv Kapur come back to the Asian tour and make some big noise in Cambodia. Also good to see Anirban Lahiri's steadiness -- but I hope he makes a big breakthrough soon a la Chowrasia, Bhullar, et al.