Rahil Gangjee birdied the last hole of the Panasonic Open Golf tournament in Osaka, Japan, on Sunday to clinch his first Asian Tour title in 14 years.
The 39-year-old, whose first Asian Tour win came in China back in 2004, was tied with Korea’s Hyungsung Kim on 13-under going into the final hole and it looked like there could be a three-way play-off to decide the winner when Junggon Hwang joined them at the same score after completing his round.
However, Gangjee kept his cool to find a birdie on the final hole to end with a score of 14-under to clinch the USD 1.37 million event co-sanctioned by Asian and Japan Golf Tour Organisation at the Ibaraki Country Club.
Gangjee, who was tied second going into the final round, began with a birdie on the second but fell behind after two bogies on fifth and seventh hole.
But the 39-year-old turned things around on the back nine as he hit three consecutive birdies on 12th, 13th and 14th holes while overnight leader Kim also hit birdies on 13th and 14th hole to move to 13-under.
It ultimately came to the last hole after Hwang birdied the last two holes to join them in the lead.
Both Gangjee and Kim hit the bunker with their tee shot on the 18th but the former recovered well to score a birdie and became the third Indian after Jyoti Randhawa and Jeev Milkha Singh to win the Panasonic Open in Japan.
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