Jyoti rises to second spot

New Delhi, August 28: Jyoti Randhawa, the reigning Hero Honda Masters and Wills Indian Open champion, missed a golden opportunity to move ...

New Delhi, August 28: Jyoti Randhawa, the reigning Hero Honda Masters and Wills Indian Open champion, missed a golden opportunity to move to the top of the Asian PGA Davidoff Tour Order of Merit, when he finished third in the 300,000 Taiwan Championship at the Tong Hwa Golf Club, in Taipei on Wednesday.

However, the finish is sure to propel Randhawa in to the top-300 of the World rankings. If he does so, he will become only the second player in the history of Indian golf to break into the top-300 of World rankings after Jeev Milkha Singh.

If Randhawa had finished in sole second place during the Taiwan PGA Championship, he would have taken over as the No 1 player in Asia. But he lost that chance when despite a superb three-under 69 on the final day in windy conditions, he could not get past Thailand8217;s Prayad Marksaeng who finished runner-up at 11-under.

Randhawa has been in superb form this season and apart from winning the 300,000 Wills Indian Open, he finished runner-up in the 400,000 Volvo China Open. In July this year, he became the second Indian after Gaurav Ghei to qualify for the British Open.

There is a lot at stake for the winner of the Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit. The top player in Asia gets an automatic spot in the British Open Championship as well as numerous invitations to play in European and Japanese PGA Tour events.

Speaking from Taiwan, Randhawa said: 8220;I am pretty satisfied with my performance here. I played solid golf on all four days and the conditions were not exactly conducive for golf.8221;

Taiwan was hit by a massive hurricane a day before the start of the championship and the after-effects caused persistent rain and high winds throughout the next four days.

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8220;My first objective is to secure the Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit. Thereafter, I will play the European PGA Tour Q-School at San Roque. I hope I will qualify for the European Tour, which would be the perfect wedding gift for Tina,8221; said Randhawa who is tying the knot with his fiancee on November 26, four days after the Q-School event ends.

Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit after Taiwan PGA Championship: Yeh Wei-Tze Twn 149,111; Jyoti Randhawa Ind 136,383; Simon Dyson Eng 123,255; Prayad Marksaeng Tha 100,646; James Kingston SA 83,848; Kang Wook-Soon Kor 73,100.

Other Indians in top 100: 25th: Gaurav Ghei 33,270; 26th: Arjun Atwal 31,589; 29th: Jeev Milkha Singh 26,812; 57th: Amandeep Johl 13,939; 78th: Amritinder Singh 8,907.