Rayong (Thailand), Jan 14 (PTI) Young Indian golfer VirajMadappa today earned his maiden Asian Tour card in only hissecond season as a professional, while former winner HimmatRai too secured his playing rights on the tour after a year.
Madappa, who became the 2017 PGTI Emerging Player of theYear after amassing the highest earnings among the rookies inthe season, finished tied 29th at the 2018 Asian TourQualifying School's Final Stage.
Madappa (73-67-69-72-71), posted an even-par-71 in thefifth and final round of the Final Stage here today to totalthree-under-352 for the week and finish inside the top-35 andties for the week to claim his Asian Tour card.
Madappa, who as a rookie had six top-10s on the PGTI lastyear including a runner-up finish, made three birdies andthree bogeys in the last round that saw him slip five spotsfrom his overnight tied 24th.
Nonetheless, Madappa's final round performance was goodenough for him to not only secure his card but also end up asthe highest-placed Indian at the event.
The Kolkata-based Viraj had been one of India's leadingamateurs prior to turning professional in 2017.
Himmat (71-71-71-66-74) was the other Indian to earn fullplaying rights on the Asian Tour as he closed the week in tied34th place at two-under-353.
Himmat, a former winner on the Asian Tour, dropped 16places from his overnight tied 18th as a result of his finalround of three-over-74 but still managed to make the grade byone shot.
Rai now returns to the Asian Tour after a one year gap.
The event was won by Korea's Seungtaek Lee who totaled14-under-341.
The 2018 Asian Tour Qualifying School Final stage saw 243hopefuls from over 30 countries vying for their playing rightsat the start of the week.
The first cut was made after 36 holes and a total of 153players made it into the third and fourth round.
A further cut was made after 72 holes and 78 playersprogressed into the fifth and final round where a total of 44players from 12 countries secured their Tour cards aftermaking the cut-off mark set at two-under-353.
The Indians who did not finish among the top-35 playersand ties and thus missed their card, were Angad Cheema (tied51st at even-par-355), Veer Ahlawat and Deepinder Singh Kullar(both tied 69th at four-over-359) and M Dharma (tied 73rd atfive-over-360). PTI ATKATK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.