Bangladeshi golfer Siddikur Rahman finished strongly to share the 9th slot at the $1.37 million Panasonic Open Japan carding six-under-par 65 in the 4th and final round held at the Chiba Country Club, Umesato on Sunday.
The two-time Asian Tour winner Sidikkur aggregated eight-under-par 276 (72, 70, 69, 65). Kenichi Kuboya of Japan, the eventual winner, stayed three shots ahead of Siddikur to clinch the title aggregating 11-under-par 273 (69, 71, 69, 64).
Katsumasa Miyamoto (Japan) finished on an identical 11-under-par 273 (69, 68, 68, 68) , but lost out to the winner in the first playoff hole.
In his immediate reaction, Bangladesh’s pioneering golfer said, “I’m happy, I managed to end the week with a top-10 finish. I holed many long putts today (Sunday) which helped me to finish really strongly. Also, I played without any pressure today and that helped too.”
“Performances like today are the kind which I draw a lot of confidence from… I’m headed to Taiwan with lots of self-belief now,” continued Siddikur, who will take part in the Yeangder Heritage in the Taiwanese capital from April 27-30.
“The only pressure I felt this week was on Friday where I was trying to make the cut. After that, I started to enjoy myself on the golf course.”
Siddikur birdied seven holes against one bogey in the final round to share the 9th slot with three other golfers.
He birdied three in the first 9 against a bogey, and started the second with three consecutive birdies, before bagging another one on the 15th hole.
Seunghyuk Kim (Korea), Mikumu Horikawa (Japan) and Junggon Hwang (Korea) shared the 3rd slot aggregating identical 10-under-par 274 each.
