A nerve-wrecked Siddikur Rahman ruined a bright opportunity of winning his third Asian Tour trophy as the Bangladeshi golfer lost his nerve in the last three holes to settle only as runner-up in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on Sunday. Siddik, who led the leaderboard with a clear three under-par till the fifteenth hole, lost his composure and scored a double bogey in the sixteenth hole in the final day at the Four Seasons Golf Club.
To make things worse Siddik scored a bogey in the next hole that wiped out his lead before South Korean Jeunghun Wang made a birdie in the final hole to take the lead.
Siddik did not commit the blunder in the last hole like the previous two but scored only a par that was not good enough for him to overturn the lead of Wang.
Siddik, who won Brunei Open in 2010 and Hero Indian Open in 2013, spent the worst day in the tournament, playing two-over-par 74 while Wang tasted his first ever Asian Tour title after playing par-72 in the final round.
Wang, who unlike Siddik kept his cool when it mattered most, earned $ 1, 89,841 as prize money and moved him up to second place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Siddik, who won $ 126,564 ( Tk one crore approximately) as runners-up, however, boosted his chances to qualify for the forthcoming Olympic Games as he jumped 51 places in Order of Merit to move to 10th place from 61st.
Siddik was disappointed with his late wobble but took consolation for capping what was his best result so far this season and to give him a fighting chance to qualify for the Olympic Games this August.
‘It was good until the 16th, but unfortunately I don’t know what happened.’ said a dejected Siddik. ‘I gave my best. It’s part of the game. It just wasn’t my day,’ said the 31-year-old Bangladeshi.
‘It’s still a good experience for me. I didn’t expect to play well coming to this week. This is a good boost for me on my world rankings. Hopefully I can get back in the running for Olympics. I will take the positives from this week,’ added Siddikur.
On the other hand Wang was ecstatic to win the championship.
‘I can’t believe that I’ve won,’ said the 20-year old Korean. ‘I probably had luck on my side today. I wasn’t even thinking about winning this week until the 16th.
‘I missed a lot of putts so I thought I didn’t have any chance.’ he added.
Siddik’s inability to hold concentration in the crunch situation is however not a surprise as he showed similar act in the Hero India Open in Bangalore, where he squandered his lead in the last day, earlier this year.
-With New Age input
