Bangkok: Fresh from his win on the domestic Tour in India, Ajeetesh Sandhu took a big step to get back his play-ing rights on Asian Tour, as he grabbed a share of lead with Korea’s Kyungnam Kang in the Final Stage of Qualifying School here on Tuesday.
He shot 8-under 63 on the A and B nines at Lake View Resort and Golf Club, ahead of Filipino Sean Ra-mos, who returned a 64. Karandeep Kochhar (67) on A and B nine was T-12, Pukhraj Sing Gill (68) on C and D course was T-27, Aryan Roopa Anand (69) was T-44 on C and D course, and Aman Raj (70) was T-64 on C and D course.
Other Indians in the field are Rashid Khan (71) at T-87, Ashish Kabthiyal (72) at T-123, S Chikkarangappa, Khalin Joshi and Arjun Sharma with 73 each are T-137th, Honey Baisoya (74) at T-165, Syed Saqib Ah-med (75) at T-179 and Dhruv Sheoran (78) at T-199.
Sandhu comes into the week having won the Vishwa Samudra Open 2024 presented by Kapil Dev last week on India’s professional circuit – his fifth win on that Tour. He had a disappointing year finishing 82nd on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, with the top 65 retaining playing rights.
The 38-year-old looks like he is on a mission to bounce back from that this week. He made a brilliant start, with birdies on the first three and then later three in a row from seven to go out in six-under. He dropped his only shot of the day on 10 but collected three more birdies later.
Argentina’s Miguel Carballo, Korean Doyeob Mun, Niklas Regner from Austria, Flint Bekkers from the United States and Australian Jack Thompson, are next best following 65s. Regner, who has spent the last three years on Europe’s Challenge Tour, was the only one to record his 65 on the C & D nines, and are behind the top three — Sandhu, Kang and Ramos. Four more rounds remain before the top 35 win their tour cards, with a cut made after Wednesday’s round and also after the fourth round on Friday.�
