Bhullar, Lahiri blow it up on final day, miss World Cup berth

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It turned out to be a case of so near and yet so far for Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri as they shot a disastrous eight-over 80 in the final round on Saturday to miss out on a berth for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup.

The Indians, who were just a shot behind the leaders after three rounds, succumbed to nerves and saw their dreams of qualifying for the Golf World Cup crash with a quadruple bogey on the 18th hole.

Bhullar and Lahiri, who a day earlier carded a brilliant 64, were just not in the right form.

They were very much in the race for top honours till the turn, despite making it two-over. They were 11-under at that stage with Singapore and the surging New Zealand team, which was 13-under.

But after the turn, even as the Koreans were trying their best at nine-under and chasing India, the duo began falling apart.

The Indians dropped a bogey on 10th. The Koreans also reached 10-under with a birdie on 13th.

Then the duo gave away bogeys on 16th and 17th to become eight-under, while the Koreans dropped a shot on 18th to come to nine-under.

Bhullar and Lahiri needed a birdie on 18th to force a play-off but instead they slumped to a quadruple bogey and crashed to sixth at four-under for four rounds.

Bhullar's tee shot landed in thick rough on the 18th hole and Lahiri struggled to chip the ball out to safety and finally ended with an eight on the par-4 finishing hole.