Viraj Madappa was in the form of his life before he headed into International Series England. Madappa who has a single win on the Asian tour maintained a top spot for the title before things went downhill for him. A triple bogey on the third day pushed him down the ladder and he carded an even par 71 on Sunday. Viraj with scores 68-70-70-71 finished behind Zimbabwean Scott Vincent who won the title for the second week in a row. Scott who won the Gate Way to the Mizuno Open in Japan went on to win the International Series after locking horns with Travis Smyth (68), Sadom Kaewkanjana (69), and Justin Harding (69)
Kim Joohyung who was last year's Asian Tour no.1 was placed fifth and Madappa was tied sixth along with Sihwan Kim and Turk Petit. Apart from Madappa, other Indian players participated and fared decently. Gaganjeet Bhullar ended on T-23 and SSP Chawrasia ended on T-30. Shiv Kapur after having a fabulous start to the first two rounds ended on T-36, ahead of Ajeetesh Sandhu who was on T-44, and S Chikkarangappa who finished on T-49. Karandeep Kochhar (77) finished 64th and Jeev Milkha Singh (75) was T-68th. The 30-year-old Zimbabwean who won his maiden Asian Tour triumph later said “This is the tour I started on, so obviously it’s nice to get the first win out here. It has felt like a long time but my game is trending in a good direction”. Even after finishing on the tied sixth spot Madappa with Smyth claimed a berth as the two highest finishers from the Slaley Hall event.
(Inputs from PTI)
