Randhawa falters on last day, ends 9th
Randhawa falters on last day, ends 9th
Jyoti Randhawa squandered a golden opportunity at the HSBC Champions, finishing a disappointing tied 9th on Sunday.

Shanghai: India's Jyoti Randhawa squandered a golden opportunity to come back on top, but couldn't quite find his touch that made him one of the leading contenders over the first three days at the HSBC Champions golf tournament, finishing a disappointing tied ninth on Sunday.

With a one-over par 73 in the fourth and final round, Randhawa slipped from overnight third while Korea's Yang Young-Eun (69) cruised to a brilliant two-shot win despite two bogeys in the last three holes.

Yang (69) totalled 14-under 274, while holding off the challenge from three of the world's finest players - world No 1 Tiger Woods, South Africa's Retief Goosen, New Zealand's Michael Campbell - and the rest of the high-class field.

Randhawa's ninth place was the only top-10 for India, who at one stage had three in the zone.

Jeev Milkha Singh also had an error-riddled 73 that saw him finish 17th after being eighth overnight. Shiv Kapur had three each of birdies and bogeys and ended tied 18th, while Gaurav Ghei, began and ended with a double bogey in a

roller-coaster round of 74 to finish tied 26th.

The 34-year-old Yang overhauled overnight leader Goosen mid-way through the day and survived a late stumble to eventually score a two-shot triumph over Woods with the disappointing South African and Campbell tied for third a further shot back.

The victory, by far the biggest in the Korean's career, fetched him $ 833,300 and with it the honour of being crowned the 'Champion of Champions' for 2006.

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Randhawa, who led for first two days, did not have greatest of starts as he opened with a bogey while his playing partners found their radar straight away.

He dropped a shot on fourth and when he double bogeyed the sixth, he seemed to fall out of the race for the title.

Randhawa never managed to find his rhythm after that.

He parred six holes from seventh to 12th and then bogeyed the 13th. Four more pars followed and he finished with a birdie to come to a disappointing seven-under after being 10-under midway through in the tournament.

Jeev Milka Singh tried to be aggressive but it did not work as he had three bogeys and just one birdie on front nine for a 38 and then managed three birdies, but also dropped two bogeys on back nine to finish with a 73 and a total of five-under 283.

Kapur was two over for front nine with three bogeys and one birdie but he did manage two birdies without dropping a bogey on back nine in even par 72 that saw him total four-under 284 for tied 18th.

Ghei started with a double and then birdied the next two. He bogeyed fifth and had three birdies in a row from sixth before finding another bogey on ninth.

He had just one par on that front stretch. On the back nine, he found no birdies and had a bogey on the 16th hole and a double on 18th, where he went into water.

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