Shiv Kapur ends 12-year wait for Asian Tour title

New Delhi: Shiv Kapur’s excruciatingly long wait for a second Asian Tour title finally ended at the inaugural Yeangder Heritage in Miaoli, Chinese Taipei, on Sunday.

Kapur (71-70-67-64), who had won his previous and only Asian Tour event in his rookie season back in 2005, came home the winner by two shots at the National Golf Country Club with a sensational bogey-free final round of eight-under-64 that saw him end up with a total of 16-under-272.

Malaysia’s Gavin Green and South Korea’s Yikeun Chang finished joint runners-up at 14-under-274 at the $300,000 event.

The 35-year-old Kapur, who began the day in tied third, two off the lead, put together eight birdies in round four including five on the last seven holes to register the tournament’s lowest single round score of 64 en route to his victory.

Interestingly, Shiv birdied the par-five 13th hole for four consecutive days. The 2002 Asian Games gold medallist also closed out the match in style, holing a tricky seven feet downhill birdie putt on the 18th.

Kapur, who had won two European Challenge Tour events in 2013, now has four international titles to his credit. His winner’s cheque of $54,000 from the event has pushed him up from 21st to 13th place in the 2017 Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Kapur dedicated his title to film legend Vinod Khanna, who passed away earlier this week.

“I want to dedicate this win to Vinod Khanna, the Indian film legend, who passed away this week. He was very close to our family and in this moment of mourning, it’s nice to have some cheer,” he said.