Siddikur's sparkling finish in Japan

Bangladesh's premier golfer, Siddikur Rahman played a scintillating final round to finish tied for ninth position in the Panasonic Open in Japan yesterday. The 32-year-old, who started the final day at 37th position and eight shots behind the leader, carded a barrage of birdies at the Chiba Country Club to make his second top-ten finish in the Asian Tour season. Siddikur ended with eight-under-par (276), just three shots behind eventual winner Kenichi Kuboya of Japan.

"I really enjoyed all four days here in Japan. I holed many long putts today which helped me to finish really strongly. Also, I played without any pressure today and that helped too. The only pressure I felt this week was on Friday where I was trying to make the cut. After that, I started to enjoy myself on the golf course and I'm happy I managed to end the week with a top-10 finish," Siddikur told Asiantour.com at the end of the day's play.

The two-time Asian Tour winner had made it into the weekend rounds right at the cut-line after earlier rounds of 72 and 70. A two-under-par in the third round brightened his chances of a respectable finish, but a sparkling six-under (65) in the fourth round – the second best score of the round – meant he pocketed a hefty paycheque of 34,652 dollars from this event. Against the seven birdies he hit yesterday, the only blemish was a bogey on the eighth hole. But if not for that bogey, Siddikur might have even been in the fight for the title of this prestigious event.

The title, meanwhile, went to Kuboya, who defeated compatriot Katsumasa Miyamoto at the first play-off hole after both had ended the fourth round with aggregate scores of 11-under-par (273).

Siddikur further said that this performance will help him do even better in the Yeangder Heritage in Taiwan starting this Thursday. "Performances like today are the kind which I draw a lot of confidence from. I finished second in Bangladesh and with another top-10 result this week, it'll help with my world ranking too. I'm headed to Taiwan with lots of self-belief now."