Kuala Lumpur: Jeev Milkha Singh's recovery from the back injury seemed to be on course as he turned in a superb card of five-under 66 here on Sunday to round off the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic in tied 10th, his third top-10 finish in last five starts.
Jeev's final round included an eagle on the 11th and four other birdies against just one bogey, and it also brought a smile to his face despite the disappointment of missing far too many makeable putts at The Mines Resort & Golf Club.
Jeev, three-time PGA Tour winner, John Kelly and 2011 PGA Championship runner-up Jason Dufner were tied for 10th at 13-under overall.
At the top, American Bo Van Pelt ran away with the tournament with a final round 64 that gave him a whopping six-shot win over fellow American Jeff Overton (69).
It was only his second career win on the PGA Tour and came two years after his first one in 2009.
"I will surely be back as I never defended a title because the US Bank, which I won, was cancelled the following year," said an elated Van Pelt.
Jeev, rushing off home to spend a day with his family in India before going to China for WGC-HSBC Champions event, said, "I played really well the whole week. This is the best I've hit the ball in months. Only my putting let me down. If I putted better, I would have finished better."
"But it is a good week. I've shot under-par and improved every day. Hopefully, I can move on from here to better results."
Despite the tenth place in a star-studded field, Jeev said, "I was looking for a top-five. But I'll take my position. This gives me confidence after coming off an injury (back injury). I'll take that and look forward to the next few weeks. I'm feeling better but not 100 per cent."
SSP Chowrasia carded a final round 73 and ended nine-over 293 in 47th place among 48 players, of whom Ryan Moore withdrew after third round.
The pick in Jeev's final round was the eagle in the par-5 11th.
"I hit a driver, three wood and putted (20 feet) from the edge of the green. I hit the irons really well and gave myself a lot of chances, but didn't hole as many as I should have," said Jeev, who last month finished fourth in Macau and Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open in Japan.
Jeev picked just over USD 106,666, while Chowrasia despite his disappointing finish took home USD 41,000 from the USD 6.1 million event. The winner, Bo Van Pelt, got USD 1.3 million.
Comments
0 comment