Pattaya, Thailand, 29-07-2018
Shiv Kapur secures joint runner-up place at Royal Cup
Shiv Kapur of India missed out on a second straight title at the Royal Cup as he battled to a one-over-71 on the final day to take a share of second place at eight-under-272.
Kapur (66-68-67-71), lying overnight lone second and trailing South African Justin Harding by two shots, eventually finished six shots behind the latter who had won his first title in Asia just weeks back at the Indonesia Open.
Shiv came up with three birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey in the last round. His chances faded away when he dropped three shots on the ninth and 10th after being even-par through the first eight holes.
This is Kapur’s first top-10 finish on the Asian Tour for the season since winning the Royal Cup in 2017. The four-time Asian Tour winner has now moved up from 39th to 30th in the Asian Tour's money list.
I’m disappointed obviously. Around the turn I played poorly and made a bad decision on the ninth hole in my second shot and then ended making double bogey and carried on the frustration to make bogey on the next hole.
Shiv said, "So that’s when I lost the tournament and played myself out of it but I’m proud with the way I came back from that despite being completely out of sorts I managed to fight back and finish second.
"Every time you’re defending a title you want to defend it well and I think I can be pretty proud of the way I came and played this week.
"I haven’t been able to play with my injuries and I haven’t been able to play the kind of schedule I wanted to. I’m glad I had a week to get the rest I needed.
"The idea is to take the momentum forward and kick on like how I did last season. So I am hoping this will spur me on and bring me more success in the second half."
Gaganjeet Bhullar was the second Indian to finish in the top-10 as he claimed tied 10th place at five-under-275.
Viraj Madappa bagged his best finish on the Asian Tour so far as he ended tied 14th at four-under-276 along with Chikkarangappa.
Among the other Indians, Himmat Rai was tied 36th at even-par-280 while Khalin Joshi was a further shot back in tied 42nd.
Rashid Khan was tied 56th at five-over-285 and Honey Baisoya closed the week in tied 59th at six-over-286.
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