Randhawa slips, signs off tied 16th in Panasonic Open

Kyoto: Jyoti Randhawa found the going tough amid swirling winds at the Joyo Country Club and turned in a disappointing five-over 76 in the final round to sign off tied 16th at the Panasonic Open golf tournament.

The Delhi golfer finished with a total of two-over 286. The other Indian in fray, Gaganjeet Bhullar, also finished over-par carding a three-over in the final round to total 10-over 294. Bhullar ended his campaign tied 55th.It wasn`t the best of starts for Randhawa as he dropped a bogey on the first hole before stumbling to a double bogey on the second. He parred the remaining holes of his front-nine to be three-over at the turn. The back-nine was no better as Randhawa dropped shots on the 10th 13th, 16th and 18th holes. The couple of birdies sandwiched in between didn`t help his cause much as Randhawa, who started the day tied eighth, slipped down the leaderboard.At the top, Japan`s Daisuke Maruyama (276) ended a four-year title drought with a four-stroke triumph. Maruyama battled to a three-over 74 to beat China`s Liang Wen-chong, Korea`s Kim Kyung-tae and countryman Yuta Ikeda in the USD 1.5 million event. Bureau Report