SSP Chowrasia misses by a whisker, Mohammad Siddikur clinches Indian Open golf title

India's S S P Chowrasia missed a much-needed birdie putt on the last hole as Bangladesh golfer Mohammad Siddikur clinched the 50th Hero Indian Open title by just one stroke despite turning in a poor three-over 75 in the final round of the Asian Tour event here on Sunday.

Chowrasia (69, 68, 66), who finished runner-up twice in the Indian Open, could come up with an even-par 72 to finish with a total of 13-under 275 and shared the second spot with compatriot Anirban Lahiri, who carded a two-under 70.

Lagging by just one stroke going into the last hole, Chowrasia's approach shot landed just four feet away from the pin, but the Kolkata golfer could not make the much-needed birdie to push it to the play-off as Siddikur held on to his one-stroke lead after parring the 18th hole.

One stroke behind Chowrasia and Anirban were the quartet of Rashid Khan (72), Baek Seuk-hyun of Korea (68), Chiragh Kumar (68) and Angelo Que (72) of Phillipines.

The punishing Delhi Golf Course bared its fangs to overnight leader Siddikur as he stumbled upon five bogeys and a triple bogey against five birdies to almost see his title hopes going up in smoke.

Siddikur faltered for the first time in the tournament as he suffered a slump after carding 66 66 and 67 in the first three rounds but none of the golfers from the chasing pack including Chowrasia, Anirban and Angelo, could grab the opportunity.

In fact, the only time, the scores were levelled was when Siddikur had dropped a bogey at the 16th that made it a four-way tie among Siddikur, Chowrasia, Angelo and Anirban, but a birdie on the next hole turned up to be the turning point as it helped the Bangladesh golfer to keep his nose ahead.

"I am very happy to win today. It was a long day and I played a few bad shots but I was confident of winning. After winning in Brunei, I was desperate for a win and this week has been the best of my life," Siddikur said.

Rashid, who started and finished with an eagle and had a couple of birdies and four bogeys and a double bogey, secured his Asian tour card. Before the start of the tournament, Rashid was 55th in Order of Merit.

Sanjay Kumar (69) and Shiv Kapur (68) were tied 11th and 13th with totals of 279 and 280, while Rahil Gangjee, who was one of the leaders after the first round, finished tied 17th after carding a successive 73 for a total of 281. Shankar Das was tied 19th after carding 72.

For Chowrasia, it was his third second position finish in Indian Open in 14 years, but he said it only means something big is going to happen.

"Whenever I finish runners up in this way, I know something big is going to happen. It has happened in the past when I won the Indian Masters in 2008 and I hope it will happen again," Chowrasia said.

"I was struggling the whole day. At the 18th hole, it was an important birdie putt. It was four feet away, I had a good line but its okay. It happens.

"My game was not good today. I missed a few small putts. Over all for the last three days, I putted well but final round my putting was not good," he said.