<
>

Shiv Kapur wins second Asian Tour title in Chinese Taipei

Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Indian golfer Shiv Kapur shot an eight-under 64 in the final round of the Yeangder Heritage in Chinese Taipei to win his second Asian Tour title, and his first in 12 years.

Kapur was three-under for the front-nine and five-under for last seven holes to card 64 to finish first with an overall score of 16-under 272.

"It feels great to finally win once again. After losing my European Tour card in 2015 and then being laid low by a liver abscess in 2016, it is a big relief," Kapur said.

Gavin Green (67) and Yikeun Chang (68) were tied-2nd at 14-under.

"It's been a long, long time and this will give me a lot of confidence. I knew it was going to be a low-scoring final round and my putter stayed hot," said Kapur.

Of the Indians, Sujjan Singh (67) played a third straight round in 60s, including four birdies in the last five holes, to finish T-22 at five-under 283, as did Himmat Rat (71).

S Chikkarangappa, who was second after first round, shot 68, and ended tied-27th because of two disappointing rounds on the second and third days. Khalin Joshi (70) was tied-37th, Rahil Gangjee (70) finished tied-52nd and Chiragh Kumar (77) slipped to tied-60th.

Kapur, 35, won his maiden title in his rookie year in 2005 at the Volvo Masters of Asia. Since then, he has had several good performances -- finishing 2nd four times and 3rd thrice, along with 21 other top 10 finishes.

His only other wins -- two of them -- came at the European Challenge Tour events in 2013 in India and Dubai.

Starting the day in tied-3rd at eight-under and two points behind the leader, Yikeun Chang of Korea, Kapur shot three birdies to move to 11-under.

The race was extremely tight, as Yikeun, who was two ahead after three rounds, and overnight second Gavin Green, one ahead of Kapur on Saturday evening, shared the lead at 12-under at the final turn.

Things became exciting on the 13th hole, where all three shot a birdie to get to 13-under. Yikeun then scored a bogey in the 14th hole to fall behind. Kapur got a birdie again to move to 14-under and soon became the sole leader with Yikeun and Green at 13-under.

Kapur kept up the pressure with another birdie on 16th. He then shot birdie on 18th to move to 16-under to take the lead.