Chiba (Japan), April 5 (IANS) Karandeep Kochhar produced a strong finishing round at the international Series Japan and logged his best finish at an international series event.

Kochhar, who has twice finished runner-up in Asian Tour, carded a final round of 4-under 67 that featured birdies on his last three holes, as he was Tied-fifth. It was his second Top-5 in three Asian Tour starts this year. The International Series events also count towards the Asian Tour, while the International Series has its own rankings, with the winner going to the Liv League.

It was Kochhar’s third bogey free round in four days and it was only his third round of 73 ha proved costly. Kochhar finished the week with a score of 12-under par (67-65-73-65).

The IGPL star Kochhar began the day with an early birdie on the fourth hole and was 1-under par at the turn. Kochhar closed his final round with three consecutive birdies to rise to T-5 alongside Hongtaek Kim of South Korea.

Jeev Milkha Singh was the only other Indian to have made the cut this week. The veteran finished T-70 after carding a final round of even par 71. He was 6-over par for the week (72-69-78-71).

Travis Smyth continued his dream run this season into the first International Series event of the year. He finished with an eagle on the last hole to win by one stroke with a total of 15-under par (71-66-68-64) to hold onto the top position on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. He also leads the International Series standings.

Pavit Tangkamolprasert of Thailand finished second at 14-under par (67-71-70-62) and recorded a round of 9-under 62 on the final day including a birdie finish on the 18th.

Playing his third event on the Asian Tour this year, Kochhar has shown strong form with the Indian having already secured a fourth place finish at the Philippine Golf Championship in February this year.

The USD 74,300 winnings this week is Kochhar’s second highest pay day to date with his second place finish at the 2023 BNI Indonesian Masters with USD 165,000 being his biggest. Kochhar also won the IGPL Dubai event in late 2025.

Kochhar is now placed fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

In Aramco Championship, Aditi Ashok shot 4-over 76 in the third round and slipped to T-20 with one round left to play.

Aditi (74-71-76) now has a total score of 5-over par for the week.

The other Indians in the field Pranavi Urs (78) and Avani Prashanth (81) were struggling.

Pranavi is now 13-over par while Avani is 16-over par. With one day left in the week the two are placed T-69 and 73rd respectively.

Diksha Dagar missed the cut earlier in the week.

American Lauren Coughlin continues to hold the lead heading into the final day. The 33 year old carded 1-over 73 on the third day for a total score of 7-under par.

Nelly Korda carded a round of 3-under 69 including late birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to put her in sole second place and close down the gap to fellow American Coughlin to two shots with the final round left to play. Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Miyu Yamashita were tied for third with a total of 3-under par.

World number one Jeeno Thitikul carded 6-over 78 to be placed at T-38 with a total score of 8-over par.

--IANS

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