Macau: Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh lost momentum after a good start but the two-under 69 was still enough to fetch him a season's best finish of tied fourth in the USD 750,000 Macau Open here on Sunday.
Jeev did make that promised charge with an eagle on the second and a birdie on the third to quickly move up the leaderboard even as the overnight leader and eventual winner Chan Yih-shin of Chinese Taipei opened with a double bogey in the final round.
Time and again Jeev gave himself birdie chances. With putts not falling and three bogeys on ninth, 11th and 14th, he finished with a 69, his fourth successive sub-par round.
His total of nine-under 275 gave him a share of fourth place with veteran Myanmar's Zaw Moe (69) and Mo Joong-kyung (72).
Shiv Kapur (69) finished tied tenth at six-under 278 up from overnight 17th, while Gaganjeet Bhullar (75), never recovered from the rain break and finished at one-under 283 and in 31st slipping down from overnight tied 12th. Kunal Bhasin (74) finished in a tie for 47th at two-over 286.
"I had a great start and I had the momentum. Then there was that bogey on the ninth, which spoilt it. I kept struggling on the greens and I left my putts short," said Jeev.
"Still I will take a lot of positives. It was my best finish of the year bettering the sixth in Sweden and I had four rounds in the red (sub-par)."
On his plans after this week, Jeev said, "I am off to Japan for two weeks and then it will be a week off and I go to Spain and Portugal. And then let's see if I make it to the CIMB Asia-Pacific Classic in Malaysia."
There was a stage after five holes when Jeev was in a five-way lead with Chan, Thaworn Wiratchant (66), who finally finished third, and Rikard Karlberg (76), who slid to 14th, jostling for the top spot.
Shiv Kapur, who birdied the second, continued his struggles on the green as putts refused to fall.
He had pars till the 15th before he got his second birdie on the 16th. The picturesque extracted a bogey for the second time in the week but he got that back with a birdie on 18th for 69.
"I had problems on the greens and that was the story of the week. I hit well and played quite good but I just could not get used to the greens," said Kapur, who plays in Japan next in the Asia-Panasonic Open, a co-sanctioned event between Asian and Japan Tours.
Gaganjeet Bhullar opened with a bogey, but got a birdie back on the second and after four holes, he also endured a rain stoppage.
On resumption, he double bogeyed the fifth and again double bogeyed the tenth and bogeyed 12th. The birdie on sixth was small compensation as he slipped down from what looked a promising top-10 possibility.
Play was delayed by just under two hours because of rain and threat of lightning just after Jeev, playing in the second group, had hit his opening tee shot and the lead group was yet to tee off.
The stoppage even prompted talk of a Monday-finish, but once play began it was good weather, though there was a drizzle towards the end when Chan was on the 16th tee.
The next event on the Asian Tour is the Asia-Pacific Open in Japan.
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