Hua Hin (Thailand), Dec 21: India’s 22-year-old rising star, Shaurya Bhattacharya, faltered at the finish, but still finished second at the Final Stage of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School to secure his full playing rights for the Asian Tour 2026 season.
Bhattacharya, who looked to be on his way to a win, dropped three bogeys in the last seven holes and lost by one to Lin Yuxin, a two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur champion.
The 23-year-old left-hander Yuxin (67) totalled 16-under for five rounds, and Bhattacharya (72), who needed a par on the 18th to force a tie for the top place, bogeyed and ended second at 15-under.
It was a fine day for the Indians as three others from the country — Rashid Khan, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Shubham Jaglan — also earned the rights after finishing inside the top-35.
Rashid Khan (68) was tied 15th at 7-under, Ajeetesh rallied from way behind with a 4-under 67 to finish at 6-under total and tied 19th, while Jaglan, who was among the early front runners in the first couple of rounds, won the 35th and last card after coming through a five-hole play-off.
Khalin Joshi (69) ended at 4-under as he bogeyed the final hole and missed getting into a play-off. The play-off was contested between 12 players, who finished at 5-under with Jaglan bagging the last card.
Kartik Singh (74) and Honey Baisoya (78) were tied 57 and will have a limited status as will S Chikkarangappa (73) at T-64.
Bhattacharya, who is coached by former Asian Games team silver medallist, Rahul Bajaj, started the day leading by one and was in pole for much of the round but was undone by bogeys on 12, 13, and 18.
Nevertheless, it was an outstanding week for the in-form player who is currently third on the Professional Golf Tour of India Order of Merit with two wins.
He said: “It was a tough last day, but there were a lot of positives. I made a lot of birdies, just that today I made too many bogeys. But looking at the positives, I made, I think, 27 birdies this week, which is a good number, and, yeah, looking forward to the season next year.
“I play a tournament to win, that’s my goal. Even if it’s a Q-School, I want to win. So, it was stress free in the sense that the cut line wasn’t a factor, but I wanted to finish number one, just couldn’t finish it off.”
Lin, playing in the penultimate group, was tied with Bhattacharya playing the difficult par-four 18th. The Chinese golfer made par while Bhattacharya, in the last group, finished with a bogey.
Canadian Henry Lee ended third, after shooting 70. Lee finished two behind the winner, frustratingly having made a double on the last.
Mexico’s Roberto Lebrija (72) finished fourth and Australian Will Florimo (70) was fifth. The final round was played on the C&D course at Lake View Resort & Golf Club, in Hua Hin, Thailand.
Victory by Lin is a huge milestone for the highly-rated golfer. He won the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2017 and 2019 and played college golf at the University of Florida. (PTI)
