Rashid cruises to another title with final-round 67

New Delhi, Nov 6 : Stamping his authority with a final-round 67, Rashid Khan secured a comfortable win at the LG ITC Classic Open Amateur which was played at the Classic Golf Resort here today.

Three clear of the field, his tournament total of six-under 282 was good enough to give him his seventh title on the amateur circuit in a little over a year.

Arshdeep Tiwana and Vikram Rana played their best rounds of the week, and their 68 and 69, respectively, propped them up to second place with an aggregate of three-under 285. Abhishek Jha and Abhinav Lohan, playing in the leaderboard finish tied for fourth place, four shots off the winning score.

Karan Vasudeva, with a final-round 69, moved up to sixth place alongside Manav Das. Both players finished at level-par for the tournament.

Despite going into the final round one shot behind the leader, 18-year-old Rashid was bound to be considered the favourite and he lived up to the tag with a birdie-blitz on the front-nine that helped him build a comfortable cushion halfway through the final round. A birdie-birdie start helped him take over the lead after just two holes and he was four-under for the day after a birdie on the par-4 7th.

A cautious stretch allowed him to stay at that score before another birdie on the par-4 13th saw his lead increase to four shots with just five holes to play. From then on, the script played out along expected lines and a finishing-hole birdie after a bogey on the 17th helped Rashid card the best round of the tournament and extend his winning margin.

'A good start always help and those birdies on the first two also meant that I was in the lead. It is always fun to play when you are leading the tournament and I kept my focus to ensure that I held on after that. I was careful of the players behind me but after making a three on 13, I knew that I was in a very comfortable position,' the youngster said after the win.

'I started off poorly in the tournament but the scoring was not that great on the first day so it allowed me to catch up with the rest of the field. After the 69 yesterday, I was just one shot back and when you have 18 holes left to play, a one-shot gap has no meaning and that is why I was very confident going into the final round,' he added.

The tour now moves to Gujarat where the LG Gujarat Open Amateur will be played at the Kensville Golf & Country Club from November 17-20 before heading to Pune for the LG Western India in the week after that.

Leading Scores: 282: RASHID KHAN (76,70,69,67) 285: ARSHDEEP TIWANA (72,75,70,68) 285: VIKRAM RANA (70,71,75,69) 286: ABHISHEK JHA (73,74,69,70) 286: ABHINAV LOHAN (74,69,71,72) 288: KARAN VASUDEVA (77,70,72,69) 288: MANAV DAS (74,73,69,72) 289: KARAN TAUNK (70,75,74,70) 290: SIMARJEET SINGH (72,72,76,70) 291: KANISHK MADAN (76,71,70,74) 292: ADITYA BHANDARKAR (71,73,74,74) 293: SAURABH BAHUGUNA (77,74,69,73) 297: RAGHAV MALIK (78,73,72,74) 297: SAMRESH SARDAR (78,73,72,74) 297: RAHUL BAJAJ (78,72,72,75)

--UNI

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