Jakarta: The Indian men’s golf team was unable to make amends for its poor performance on the third day and turned in only a modest show on Sunday to finish in seventh place in golf at the Pondok Indah Golf Club.
India, who were second and in contention for a medal at the halfway stage of the tournament, came a cropper on third day when none of the four players could register a sub-par round. The same happened on the final day and it was curtains for them.
India’s best World ranked player Rayhan Thomas (73) and Aadil Bedi (73), second on Indian circuit, ended in Tied-13th place with totals of 2-under 286, while Kshitij Naveed Kaul (72) was 1-over 289 and T23. Harimohan Singh, one of the longest hitters on the amateur circuit just could not get going on the greens and finished the final round at 82 and a total of 21-over in T-53rd.
In the women’s section, Ridhima Dilawari, who has taken a year off college in Columbia in US, was the best Indian shot her best round of the week 1-under 71 and finished at 4-over 292 and T-17th. Sifat Sagoo (73) and Diksha Dagar (72) were T-22 at 295.
Yuka Saso (66, and 13-under 275) of the Philippines won the gold medal in women’s under miraculous circumstances and also helped Philippines to the team gold.
Start-to-finish win for Keita
In men’s section, Japan’s Keita Nakajima (71 and total 11-under 277), seen as a future star in pro golf, finished a start-to-finish win. He edged Korea’s Oh Seung-taek (69) who totaled 278 by one shot, while Cheng Jin (70 and 9-under 279) of China bagged the bronze.
Nakajima also helped Japan win the team gold, while China pushed Korea to the bronze medal.
Saso trailed China’s Liu Wenbo for most of the day before catching up with her after 15 holes.
Disaster struck in the par-3 17th, when Saso came up with a double-bogey, giving Liu a 3-shot lead. But once again luck turned, as the 17-year-old Saso eagled the par-5 18th, Liu had a quadruple-bogey there. That was an amazing six-shot swing on a single hole.
Also helping Saso and the Philippines’ cause was that Du Mohan, another Chinese golfer who emerged as a gold-medal threat, bogeyed the par-4 16th and double-bogeyed the 17th.
Saso (66) won the gold at 13-under 275 and Liu (73) was second at 278 and Filipina Bianca Pagdanganan (66) won the bronze beating Ayaka Furue of Japan in a play-off.
In team event, too, Liu’s quadruple bogey proved costly as they dropped to third, as Philippines and Japan took the gold and silver.
Pagdanganan, a key member of the University of Arizona team that won the US NCAA Division 1 title, was brilliant in Jakarta, too.
She entered the final round tied for eighth, but showed her strength when it mattered the most, making 8 birdies against 2 early bogeys for a 66.
