December 20, 2015: Himmat Rai continued his rich vein of form, producing a sensational 63 in the final round of the Philippine Open to finish in a tie for third place. Rai missed out narrowly at the Ho Tram Open too, where he lost in the playoff to Sergio Garcia. In the land locked Central Luzon province of Tarlac, Rai finished two behind Miguel Tibuena at the Luisita Golf and Country Club, with the Philippino claiming a popular victory on home soil. Scott Barr finished second, sandwiched between Tibuena and Rai at 13-under 203.
Khalin Joshi and Gaganjeet Bhullar also had a good week, finishing together in T10, just five shots behind the winner.
After a choppy 71 in the first round containing three bogeys, Rai played out 39 holes without a blemish to script another solid Asian Tour finish. Despite a clean sheet, Rai only managed 70 in the second round and was placed in 32nd going into the final round.
But a spectacular effort on Sunday saw him leap up the order with the help of nine birdies as he outplayed the field by a margin of three in the final round.
Rai’s finish was a testament of his ability to delivery on the clutch, as he produced four birdies over the last five holes to surge inside the top three. His effort is especially impressive, considering that it came right on the back of a painful playoff loss in the first week of December.
“I didn’t have a number in my mind. I was thinking of eliminating my errors in round one and two,” said the delighted Rai. “I wanted to play percentage golf and hitting it near the hole. I putted aggressively and that made a difference today.”
The 21-year-old Miguena fired six birdies on his homeward nine to seal the deal with a winning total of 14-under-par 202 in the US$300,000 Asian Tour event which was reduced to 54 holes due to bad weather earlier this week.
Scott Barr of Australia missed out on winning his first Asian Tour title following a 68 but his lone second place result ensured that he would retain his Tour card for 2016 after jumping 15 spots to 49th place on the Order of Merit.
“I’m glad the Philippine Open is my first Asian Tour title,” said Tabuena. “I’m really happy that my name will be on this prestigious trophy alongside some of the legends in golf in Asia’s oldest National Open.”
“I gave myself a goal at the start of the day which was to shoot a 66 or lower. There are a lot of birdie chances and people can make a move. I was one-under after the turn and I thought I lost some ground. I knew I needed to go out with all guns blazing,” he said.
Final Scores of the Philippine Open being played at the par 72, 7042 Yards Luisita Course course:
202 – Miguel TABUENA (PHI) 67-69-66.
203 – Scott BARR (AUS) 69-66-68.
204 – Himmat RAI (IND) 71-70-63, Chinnarat PHADUNGSIL (THA) 67-70-67.
206 – Seukhyun BAEK (KOR) 69-71-66, Simon GRIFFITHS (ENG) 70-68-68, Jeunghun WANG (KOR) 67-70-69, Niall TURNER (IRL) 69-68-69, Keith HORNE (RSA) 69-68-69.
207 – LU Wei-chih (TPE) 70-70-67, Charlie WI (KOR) 70-69-68, Khalin JOSHI (IND) 70-67-70, Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) 67-69-71, Kalle SAMOOJA (FIN) 69-67-71, Lindsay RENOLDS (CAN) 66-68-73.
