What a performance from Poom Saksansin this week – your new champion at the TAKE Solutions Masters. He finished 16 under par 268. Coming into the 18th hole with a three shot lead, he was confident from the word go, picking birdies on 4th, 6th and eleventh and a couple on 16th and 17th.
A proud Poom Saksansin with the #TAKESolutionsMasters trophy ? #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/Ck0j0f4oF9
— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) August 6, 2017
India’s Khalin Joshi, a Bangalore favourite whose home course is the Karnataka Golf Association course put up a score of 14 under par 270. Joshi on familiar territory had a good start with a birdie as he moved into the final round. This was followed by picking more birdies on 5th, 6th, 10th and followed by 15th, 17th and 18th. As runners up he picked a check of $33,000.
Crowds came out in big numbers and cheered on the local favourites. Golf is a game that gets people together and this weekend was testimony.
Ajeetesh Sandhu displayed some good golf too and finished third 10 under par 274.
Great weekend in Bangalore @KhalinJoshi Poom and @asiantourgolf @TakeSri #golfinindia #growgolf pic.twitter.com/rg5u21NrS2
— Golf In India (@golfingindian) August 6, 2017
“We (Khalin Joshi and Chikkarangappa S.) played together as junior golfers so it will be nice to play with them again,” said Poom of playing with old contemporaries. “When we were amateurs, Chikka was a little bit better than me.”
Rory Hie of Indonesia, Divyanshu Bajaj and Abhinav Lohan of India settled for fourth at the US$300,000 Asian Tour event.
Poom’s lead was only briefly threatened when Joshi birdied his opening hole but the Thai held his nerve and claimed a sensational victory after posting five birdies.
Did you know?
- This is Poom Saksansin’s first wire-to-wire victory and the second on the Asian Tour in 2017 following Rattanon Wannasrichan’s start-to-finish win at the Thailand Open.
- This is Poom’s second win in his ninth Asian Tour start since his victory at the BNI Indonesian Masters last year.
- Poom only dropped five shots the entire week and accumulated 21 birdies. He rated his 15-feet birdie on the 16th hole in the final round as the most important as it handed him a three-shot cushion.
- He said this victory was more satisfying as compared to his first win in Indonesia where he felt ‘lucky’.
- The win is a welcome return to form for Poom, who injured his back last year. He returned for his first tournament in January.
- This is Khalin Joshi’s second runner-up finish. He finished tied second at the 2015 Bashundhara Bangladesh Open.
- Khalin fought bravely but bogeys on holes seven, nine and 14 put a dent in his title aspirations.
- Khalin and Poom are good friends off the course. They both played in the amateur circuit together. Poom said, “Golf is golf. We are still friends. I wish Khalin the best in the future.”
- Ajeetesh Sandhu equalled his best result on the Asian Tour. He also finished third at the 2011 SAIL Open in India.
- Rory Hie of Indonesia enjoyed his best result on the Asian Tour with his tied fourth finish.
With inputs from Asian Tour
