Rabat, Morocco: Sweden’s Charlie Lindh, second in his last outing at the Kolon Korea Open, once again showed the importance of seizing the momentum in golf when he secured his maiden title on the Asian Tour by winning the US$500,000 am green IGPL Bharath Classic.

It was a grandstand finish for the 28-year-old, who eagled the last hole to win by four shots at 18-under-par, having started the day three behind the overnight leader, Thailand’s Settee Prakongvech. The eight-under par 64 was the best round of the tournament.

Settee could only muster a 71 on the day when it mattered most and fell into a tie for second place at 14-under with American Charles Porter (66).

Porter reached 16-under after 17 holes and was tied with Lindh playing the last, but he pushed his second shot into the beach and proceeded to make a double-bogey.

Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut shot a 66 and jumped to tied fourth place alongside England’s Sam Broadhurst (68). American Marcus Plunkett also shot a 66 to move to tied sixth place at 12-under where he was joined by the Thai duo of Poom Saksansin (69) and Runchanapong Youprayong (70).

The tournament was co-sanctioned by the Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL), and Karandeep Kochhar (68) was the organisation’s top performer at tied ninth. Ayoub Lguirati (69) was the leading Moroccan star, finishing tied 13th at nine-under.

The winning cheque for US$90,000 takes Lindh to third place in the Asian Tour Order of Merit, and will boost his motivation ahead of this week’s US$2 million International Series Morocco.

“It feels good … really good. I’ve been playing good coming into this week, and I’ve been very, very excited to play golf the last couple of months, because the game has been feeling better. Thankfully, I got some good results,” said Lindh, whose win came a day after Swedish National Day and with his childhood friend Isac Bondesson on his bag.

On the 18th, Lindh, who hails from a tiny village of less than 600 people near the southern Swedish city of Kristianstad, reached the edge of the green in two shots, and then holed from 20 feet for the eagle.

The Asian Tour moves 180 kilometres north to the capital city of Rabat for the International Series Morocco presented by Visit Morocco.