KARACHI, Jan 22: Maintaining his ascendancy in the last three rounds, England’s Chris Rodgers captured his maiden US$200,000 Asian Tour Pakistan Open golf title by four strokes at the Karachi Golf Club on Sunday. He played last round of par 72 to top the leader board with an aggregate of fifteen under par 273.

Indian Jeev Milkha Singh and his fellow countryman Amandeep Johl finished joint second with 11 under par 277.

Pakistan’s hope Muhammad Munir settled for fourth with Philippines Frankie Minoza and Malaysia’s Iain Steel with nine under par 279.

Three other Pakistani players- Shabbir Iqbal, Imdad Hussain and Matloob Ahmed were tied 11th with six under par 282.

Rodgers received a winning purse of US$31,700 while the two runners up took home US$16,950 apiece.

Muhammad Munir pocketed US$8,280. His other compatriots Shabbir, Iqbal and Matloob got richer by US$3,130 each.

The performance exhibited by these four home golfers in particular, heralded a new dawn in the sport in Pakistan.

Pakistan would re-emerge on the golfing map as Munir, Shabbir and Abbas Ali also got tour card for the entire Asian Tour circuit to be played during the year.

‘This is a significant victory which came after a lot of hard work and travel, a delighted Rodgers told reporters.

Based in London, Rodgers said he applied similar strategy here that earned him victory at the Malaysian Qualifying School a week before.

After playing a first round of 69 and finishing joint seventh with four players, he improved his performance with every passing day. He played rounds of 64, 68 and 72 and enjoyed top position in the next three rounds.

He birdied on holes second, five, 11th and 15th in the last round. Despite suffering stroke loses on holes three, seven, nine and 12, he had an edge over rivals on all the 18-holes.

The Indian pair of Milkha Singh and Amandeep who were seven strokes off the pace before the last round, played a round of 69 apiece to finish joint second.

Philippines Frankie Minoza who was two under par 214 trailing far behind the contenders, surprised all and sundry by carding a round of par 65 to finish joint fourth.

Munir who was in contention of the title, had a disappointing fourth round of three over par 75 which affected his ranking falling alongside Frankie and Iain Steel.

Leading final round scorers:

273-Chris Rodgers (Eng) 69, 64, 68, 72

277-Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68, 69, 71, 69; Amandeep Johl (Ind) 68, 67, 73, 69.

279- Frankie Minoza (Phi) 72, 73, 69, 65; Iain Steel (Mas) 73, 66, 69, 71;

Muhammad Munir (Pak) 70, 68, 66, 75.

280- Jochen Lupprian (Ger) 72, 68, 70, 70; Ashok Kumar (Ind) 68, 70, 70, 72.

281- Marcus Both (Aus) 70, 71, 71, 69; Barry Hume (Sco) 70, 72, 66, 73.

282- Arjun Singh (Ind) 69, 69, 75, 69; Anura Rohana (Sri) 71, 70, 71, 70;

Shabbir Iqbal (Pak) 70, 67, 73, 72; Imdad Hussain (Pak) 68, 72, 71,

71; Matloob Ahmed (Pak) 70, 70, 70, 72; Mark Mouland (Wal) 68, 65, 71, 78.