India’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu took advantage of a hot putter to win by four shots in the final round of the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur tournament on the BSD course at Damai Indah Golf today.

Playing in the penultimate group at the US$125,000 Asian Development Tour event, he posted a bogey-free round of 65 to finish on 23 under par as his rival contenders fell by the wayside.

Overnight leader Ho Yu-cheng was only able to manage par in the final day, finishing in solo second at 19 under par (269). Also playing in the final group were Thailand’s Jakraphan Premsirigorn (71) who finished in a tie for third place on 18 under and India’s Samarth Dwivedi (72) who slid back to eighth spot (272).

Ho Yu-cheng of Chinese Taipei pictured in action at the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament at Damai Indah Golf, BSD Course. Picture by Yulius Martinus / OB Golf.

Sharing the honours in third place with a final score of 270 were Malaysian duo Ervin Chang (65) and Amir Nazrin (68), England’s William Harrold (69) and Witchayapat Sinsrang (68) of Thailand.

Sandhu revealed after his round that while he was enjoying his first international victory, he wasn’t expecting to win as he was in the penultimate group of the day.

“It still hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “Until the 14th or 15th hole I honestly didn’t even know if I was even co-leading or something, but then I made birdie on 15, and then on 16, and I thought, you know maybe I might have a chance, so why not push a little bit harder.

“I was only looking at the board that was with my group and I had no clue what the scores were in back or ahead, but as I walked up to the 18th green and saw I had a lead, I wasn’t expecting that for sure.

“I had some nerves going into Day Three but today felt a little more comfortable I guess. I spoke to my parents this morning and everybody was like, ‘it’s a different country but it’s the same golf, so you might as well just go play and play freely, hit it shot by shot’.”

“That’s exactly what I was telling myself with every single shot. Just keep it simple and let’s see what happens at the end of the day. I guess it worked,” he laughed.

“Yesterday I had about 18 GIRs and today also I had about 18 GIRs so I would say that the approaches were pretty much there but yesterday the putter was a little cold. Today the putter went hot at just the right time.”

Amir Nazrin of Malaysia pictured in action at the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament at Damai Indah Golf, BSD Course. Picture by Yulius Martinus / OB Golf.

With his first victory outside of India, this win will give him more opportunities to expand his golfing career.

“I’m flying to Vietnam tomorrow and then let’s see. I would love to tee it up on the Asian Tour at Yeangder or wherever. That’s the plan, to get on the Asian Tour, so I’ll be calling my coaches and we will see what we can do.”

Ireland’s Kevin Phelan (67) shared ninth spot on 15 under par (273) with Singapore’s James Leow (68) and in 11th place (274) were Thailand’s Sarut Vongchaisit (64), England’s Joe Heraty (66) and Minhyeok Yang (67) of Korea.

Thailand’s Sarun Sirithon (70) finished in solo 14th with a finishing score of 275.

The Asian Development Tour tees it up once again next week at the BRG Open Golf Championship Da Nang. The US$75,000 event is being played at the Da Nang Golf Course (Nicklaus Course) from August 31 until September 2.