Siddikur Rahman finished joint third in the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters which concluded in the Shah Alam province of Malaysia yesterday. After making the
halfway cut right on the number, Bangladesh’s first winner on the Asian Tour capped a memorable comeback with two successive 66s to finish joint third.
Like in the previous round, Siddikur was the best performer of the day along with India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar with a six-unde-par round, but the first two indifferent rounds meant he had too much ground to make up. In the end, Siddikur finished with 12-under-par (279), four shots off winner Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand and a shot behind Gaganjeet Bhullar of India.
Siddikur had a near-perfect day as he traded seven birdies for just a single bogey, and missed a couple of birdies by inches. What was more pleasing for him though was that he capped it off with a brilliant 10-yard birdie.
“It was a great round for me,” Siddikur told Asiantour.com. “I was very tired on the first two days as I was a little bit jetlagged (from playing in Switzerland last week). My putting was really good in the last two days.”
Siddikur’s exploits at the Kota Permai Golf & Country Club earned him a purse of 19,278 dollars and pushed him up to seventh position in the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
The other Bangladeshi who made the cut, Jamal Hossain Mollah, shrugged off the disappointment from the previous two rounds with a three-under-par round which placed him in joint 44th position.
The day though belonged to 45-year-old Wiratchant who became the most decorated golfer on the Asian Tour circuit by winning his 14th title.
The next event in the Asian Tour calendar is the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship in Taipei which starts on Thursday where Siddikur along with Jamal and Shakhawat Hossain Sohel are expected to take part.
-With The Daily Star input
