Stars of TAKE Solutions Masters speak about the week in Bangalore

Poom Saksansin (Tha) – Final Round 67 (-4), Total 268 (-16)

Honestly I have confidence to win but because I played badly yesterday (round three), I was a bit worried. Yes, I felt nervous but my caddy cheered me. I just continued talking to him. He is a local caddy.

On hole number three when he holed the long par putt, I thought we will be tied for the lead because I had a tricky seven-foot putt for par. Luckily I sank that. That’s probably the closest we came to tying for the lead.

After that I tried to play my own game. If I played good but Khalin won, then I’m happy for him because he is my friend. But if I played badly and Khalin won, then it would have been very disappointing.

The birdie on 16 (from 15 feet) gave me a three-shot lead and I knew all I needed to do was hit a good shot on 17 and I have a good chance to win. The birdie on 16 was very important because it gave me confidence. If I didn’t make that birdie and made a bogey on the last hole, it would have been a play-off.

No, I didn’t expect to win and be leader for four days! I was very surprised I was the leader after the third round because I played so badly. But after leading for three days, it would have been very disappointing to lose.

On the 18^th hole, I knew Khalin (Joshi) needed an albatross to go into a play-off for me. If he did that then good but for me, I just needed to make par so I played it safe.

In Indonesia I felt that I’m lucky to win. This time, I felt that I played very well and I had a lot of expectations to win. Maybe I’m also good player that’s why I win (laughs). This win means I’m back in form. I injured my back before so this is a very good win for me.

Khalin Joshi (Ind) – Final Round 67 (-4), Total 270 (-14

The runner-up finish sets me up for the second half of the Asian Tour season. I’ve asked for a few invites in the second half, so hopefully I’ll get them and can make good use of them and improve on my standing on the Asian Tour.

I’m really happy with the way I fought as I put myself in contention going into the last few holes. Hopefully, I can carry this performance forward.

I knew there will be a lot of birdie opportunities going into the back-nine as I have also traditionally played better on the back-nine.

I just had to make birdies and put pressure on him. I did put pressure on him on the 15th hole but he played pretty solid towards the end to take it through and be the rightful winner.

My friend Shubhankar Sharma told me that the seventh and ninth holes would be the key in the final round and I ended up making bogeys on both. On both the seventh and ninth, I followed up great tee shots with a couple of poor approach shots. Those two errors cost me dearly. But overall, I’m still pretty happy with the week.