Siddikur unravels on back nine

Troubled times continued for Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman as he ended the first round of the Asia Pacific Diamond Cup in joint 57th position in Osaka, Japan yesterday. Bangladesh's first direct Olympic qualifier shot a round of one-over-par 71 at the highly-acclaimed Ibaraki Country Club's West course.

Siddikur is seven strokes behind leader Satoshi Kodaira of Japan, who put on an exhibition of putting brilliance to end the day on six-under-par 70. Fellow Japanese Imahira was one stroke behind in second position. The third position was shared by Adam Bland of Australia, Tetsuji Hiratsuka and Takashi Iwamoto of Japan, Thailand's Phachara Khongwatmai and Thitiphun Chuayprakong and Juvik Pagunsan of the Philippines --¬ all with rounds of four-under-par 66. 

The front nine went pretty well for the Bangladeshi as he birdied the third and ninth holes while staying on par in the rest. However, things went awry in the back nine as he carded a hattrick of bogeys from the 11th to the 13th holes, hit a birdie on the 15th before following it up with another bogey in the very next hole.

In his previous tournament, the Omega European Masters in Switzerland earlier this month, Siddikur failed to make the cut. Before that, he finished 58th out of 60 competitors in the Rio Olympics golf event.