Golfer Joshi wins Panasonic Open India
New Delhi : Golfer Khalin Joshi finally got the monkey off his back as he registered his maiden triumph with a win in the eighth edition of the Panasonic Open India here on Sunday.
After three Top-10 finishes this season, Joshi, who has twice before finished runner-up at Asian Tour events, got his victory at the Delhi Golf Club here.
On Sunday, roaring back from two early bogeys, the 26-year-old Bengaluru pro bounced back with six birdies, including a birdie-birdie finish as he had four birdies in the last five holes.
Joshi became the fifth Indian to win an Asian Tour title in 2018 after Shubhankar Sharma (Maybank Championships), Rahil Gangjee (Panasonic Open Japan), Gaganjeet Bhullar (Fiji International) and Viraj Madappa (Take Solutions Masters).
In between, Gangjee also won the Louis Philippe Cup on the Asian Development Tour. Joshi also became the seventh Indian winner in eight editions of the Panasonic Open India.
As Joshi equalled 2017 champion Shiv Kapur's best winning score of 17-under to emerge champion, Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh (69) was second, his third runner-up finish at Panasonic Open and fifth Top-10 at the event in last five starts.
Indians once again had a great week with six finishers in the Top-14 and eight in the Top-16.
Joshi, 26, said: "I have no words honestly. It's a huge monkey off my back. I think I played really well…kept my nerves and played really solid coming in. The last four holes were the key for me. Like all night I was thinking about the 16th hole tee shot because that tee shot has haunted me for a while now."
Kshitij Naveed Kaul, 17, got his pro career off to a great start as he shot 68 in the final round to tie for sixth with Jazz Janewattananond (68) and Matt Stieger (69).
Veteran Mukesh Kumar (68) and M Dharma (71) were T-10, while Karandeep Kochhar (68) and Sachin Baisoya (73) were T-15th.
Defending champion Kapur (72) was T-24th, while Jeev Milkha Singh, who hosts an invitational event next week in Chandigarh, after a 69-68 start, faded over the weekend with 75-76 and finished T-47th.
