SIDDIKUR chokes again
Struggle, struggle, surprise, disappointment. This seems to have become a pattern for Siddikur Rahman these days. Past his heady days, the ace Bangladeshi golfer spends most of his time on the golf course struggling – struggling with a recurring back injury, and also struggling for form. Once hailed as the most consistent golfer on the Asian Tour circuit for his top-ten finishes, the 31-year-old these days makes more headlines for missing cuts.
Yet once in a while and with little sign of form or confidence going in, Siddikur comes up with a surprise performance. The surprise comes in the form of a top-drawer show, but is more often followed by a bigger surprise, in the form of a disastrous finish which was all too evident in the Mauritius Open yesterday.
It has happened many a time in the past. Even in better times, Siddikur had strolled to the top position, and then perhaps shaken by the final-day nerves, finished second or worse. This is why Siddikur has seven second-place finishes on Asian Tour against only two victories so far. But it looked like that pattern was going to be snapped yesterday at the Four Seasons Golf Club in Mauritius.
While most of the golfers struggled in windy conditions of the seaside golf course, only Siddikur and South Korean youngster Jheunghun Wang looked in control. They were the only two golfers to have eventually finished with under-par scores. Siddikur, in particular, looked rock-solid all through the week and only had four bogeys against 11 birdies over the first three rounds. Enjoying a three-stroke lead with only three holes left, it looked like Siddikur was sailing towards a first-ever European Tour victory. But came the 16th hole, he had a complete nervous breakdown.
Siddikur had spoken of his delight this week at the execution of his swings and drives, yet on the 16th, his tee shot went awfully awry, landing out of bounds and forcing him to drop a shot. The two-time Asian Tour winner eventually finished the hole with a double bogey. His driving wasn't looking all that solid and his putting had gone cold all of a sudden. Then on the 17th hole, he missed a regulation five-foot putter to settle for a bogey. Wang, had meanwhile, held his nerve to convert two difficult chip shots on consecutive holes to chip away at Siddikur's lead. The two were now level for the first time in the day as they went into par-five 18th hole tied at five-under.
More drama was to follow as Siddikur nearly made an eagle as his third shot hit the pin, but two putts were only good enough for a par while Wang knocked down a birdie, sealing back-to-back titles and robbing Siddikur's chance of a first-ever European Tour victory and a third Asian Tour title win.
On the brighter side of things, this was Siddikur's best finish on the European circuit, and it earned him a healthy paycheque of US 1,26,565 dollars, propping him up to the 10th position in the Asian Tour Order of Merit. Now ranked 406th in the world, the Mauritius exploits will in all likelihood lift Siddikur much higher up the ladder and, most importantly, bring him firmly back in the Olympic Games' eligibility list.
WHAT SIDDIKUR SAID
"Well it was good until hole number 15, but unfortunately I don't know what happened I had an O.B. the first shot and a good up and down but it's really unfortunate. Maybe I'll have something good in the future."
"I did visualise that my ball was going to go in the hole (on the 18th), so I could eagle it. I chipped well and the putt was not so good. I think it was not my day."
"I didn't even think I was going to be able to reach the second position. Before we came here I was really struggling with my golf. I'm really happy to get the second position."