Jakarta, Indonesia: Argentina’s Miguel Carballo overturned a six-shot overnight deficit to win the Bank BRI Indonesia Open as teenage Indonesian amateur Naraajie Emerald Ramadhan Putra’s hopes of pulling off an historic victory were dashed.
Carballo, who topped the Asian Development Tour (ADT) Order of Merit last year, fired a flawless closing five-under-par 67 at the Pondok Indah Golf Course to clinch his maiden Asian Tour title by three shots from Korean Chang Yik-eun with a winning total of 17-under-par 271.
The Argentinian is the ninth player on the ADT to go on to win on the Asian Tour.
Following a third round nine-under-par 63, Naraajie led by six strokes and appeared poised to become the first Indonesian in almost 30 years to win the country’s national Open. However, to the disappointment of the local galleries, the 19-year-old signed off with a 78 and finished fourth, five shots behind the champion.
For Carballo, though, it was a memorable triumph. “This has been a fantastic week, winning for the first time on the Asian Tour. My focus today was just to try to go under-par. Unfortunately for Naraajie, he did not play well and I capitalised on it,” said Carballo.
“My schedule’s going to change now that I’m a winner on the Asian Tour. I’ll definitely be playing a lot over here now,” said Carballo, who stormed out of blocks with an opening-hole birdie before picking up further strokes on holes four and six.
After making the turn in 33, he added another birdie on 10 before sinking a 30-foot birdie putt from the edge of the green on 13 that gave him the outright lead after Naraajie three-putted for a bogey.
While Carballo remained rock solid and closed out his round with five straight pars, Naraajie dropped six more shots in the same period to fall away.
“I just had a very bad back nine,” said Naraajie. “I made my second bogey on nine when I pulled my tee shot into the hazard and had to take a penalty. I just kind of lost my focus on those last six holes. I’ve learnt a lot this week and hopefully it can bring me to the next step. I’ll be playing an ADT event next month and then the Southeast Asian Games at the end of this year.”
Chang enjoyed his best result on Tour this season, signing off with a 64 to take outright second place. Fellow-Korean Kim Joo-hyung, who won his second ADT title in Indonesia last week, was left to rue two dropped shots in his last three holes and had to settle for third place.