Mumbai  :

Delhi boy Rashid Khan, who has showed immense promise in home conditions, on Sunday proved that he has come of age by clinching his first overseas victory in Thailand.

Rashid won the $750,000 Chiangmai Golf Classic by one stroke, surpassing fellow Indian Jyoti Randhawa  and local lad Thanyakon Khrongpha at Bangkok’s Alpine Golf Resort. This was also Rashid’s second Asian Tour title, which propelled him to the eighth place from last week’s 22nd spot in the continental Order of Merit. Rashid won his first Asian Tour trophy at the SAIL-SBI Open this February in a playoff against Bangladesh’s Siddikur Rehman.

Rashid became the second golfer after India’s highest-ranked pro Anirban Lahiri to get a breakthrough win this year. Anirban clinched his first title on foreign turf in April.

“I had confidence that I am going to win my second tournament on the Asian Tour but I didn’t expect it to be so soon.Both my wins are important. Sail-SBI Open, because it was my first win and Chiangmai is special, because it is my first win abroad so both have their own relevance,” Rashid told TOI just before boarding a plane for the flight back home. Jyoti Randhawa (68-65-70-69) seemed to be back at the top of his game as he earned a creditable runner-up finish after a final round of 69 that saw him make five birdies and two bogeys.

The nine-time Asian Tour winner had a slow start with a bogey on the first but then made a charge with birdies on the fourth, sixth and eighth. He sank a mammoth 50-footer on the sixth. A poor tee shot resulted in a bogey on the 11th. Jyoti tried to come back in the game with birdies on the 14th and 15th but could not catch up with Rashid till the end.

Rashid began his golfing journey at the age of nine as a caddie at the Delhi Golf Club with equipment borrowed from his uncle Mohd Maqbool Khan. But it was in 1999 that his enrolment for DGC’s Junior Golf Development program changed his fate. In 2006, Rashid won Indian Golf Union’s (IGU) All India Juniors after which there was no looking back. In fact, it was after his silver-medal winning effort at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games that prompted him to turn pro. And it didn’t take much time for him to clinch his first pro title the very next year, at the Surya Nepal Masters.

But he was unable to win a single title competing against Asia’s best and even lost to compatriots -Anirban Lahiri and S Chikkarangappa – in playoffs for the SAIL-SBI Open and CG Open respectively last year.

Leaderboard: 

271 – Rashid Khan (IND) 68-6966-68; 272 – Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 68-65-70-69, Thanyakon Khrongpha (THA) 69-65-67-71; 274 – Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 69-70-66-69; 275 – Mithun Perera (SRI) 70-70-67-68, Kalem Richardson (AUS) 71-69-64-71; 277 – Jason Dufner (USA) 69-69-73-66, Danny Chia (MAS) 74-6868-67, Jbe Kruger (RSA) 73-66-68-70, Scott Barr (AUS) 68-69-67-73. Other Indians: Tied-16 – Chikkarangappa S (69-72-71-69); T-31 Chiragh Kumar (69-75-69-71), T-46 Shubhankar Sharma (71-70-72-74), T-60 M Dharma (70-7474-74), T-63 Abhijit Chadha (71-74-73-75).

source: http://ww.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Golf> Top Stories / by Rohit Bhardwaj, TNN / November 17th, 2014