Abu Dhabi
Unheralded South Korean An Byeong-hun impressed the most among Asian golfers with an overall score of 12-under par 276 in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship that concluded here at Abu Dhabi Golf Club yesterday.
An finished tied at 12th on the leaderboard with seven others while his compatriot YE Yang finished with an overall score of nine-under par 279. Yang, who started the final round on seven-under had an excellent first 10 holes where he birdied on the fourth, seventh, eight and the 10th to go 11 under.
However, back-to-back bogeys on the 11th, 12th and one more on the 16th saw him let the advantage slip. Yang somehow got his act together and birdied on the 17th to finish the last round on two-under.
India’s Anirban Lahiri put his forgettable outing in round three behind him to finish the final round with an overall six-under 282. “I was super rusty but not a terrible result. It could have been worse after yesterday. There are a lot of positives. I think I played really well on the back nine and that’s how I should be playing. Yesterday, I lost my way in the back nine and that was like a kick in the stomach as it was a scoring day and to score a double bogey of the blue was a killer blow,” revealed the 27-yr-old, who was of the view that he was enjoying his first stint on the European Tour.
“I’m enjoying it so far and hopefully, I will be in full flow when I tee up,” said Lahiri, who was unsure if he would get a call for Qatar Masters next.
Lahiri’s compatriot and senior pro Jeev Milkha Singh didn’t make much of an impression in the final round as he struggled with his putting all day. Singh, who started the day on four-under, had a bogey-free back nine but two bogeys on the front including a birdie on the second saw him settle for three under par 285.
“I created chances but didn’t putt well. The biggest plus I would take from the week is that I was driving it better. I played rock solid today and had a lot of birdie chances. I need to sharpen a bit,” said Singh, who is headed for the Qatar Masters.
