Anshul Mishra grabs top-10 at AAC, says learning from stars at DPWIC helped him

Dubai, Oct 26 (PTI) Displaying composure beyond his 17 years, reigning All India amateur champion Anshul Mishra became only the third Indian to finish in the Top-10 of the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship

here.

Playing the tournament for the first time, Anshul carded a 2-under 70 to total 9-under 279 to finish tied-seventh at the Emirates Golf Club.

“I feel like, I managed the course pretty well this week, and it’s got something to do with just watching the pros play at the DP World India Championship at the Delhi Golf Course last week. I learnt a lot from the way Rory (McIlroy) and Tommy Fleetwood played,” said Anshul.

Thailand’s Pongsapak ‘Fifa’ Laopakdee staged a big rally to win the coveted title that will send him to the 2026 Masters and The Open. Six behind at the start, he first got into a play-off with a 67 and then birdied three times to beat the 16-year-old overnight leader, Taisei Nagasaki on the third play-off hole.

Revealing the reason behind his nickname, Fifa laughed and said, “My father loves football – FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Cup. Thank god, he chose FIFA.” Only two Indians have had top-10s before Anshul in the AAC, which started in 2009, a year after the Indian was born in 2008. They are Khalin Joshi (T-9 in 2010) and Rayhan Thomas (T-2 in 2018).

Anshul shot par or better on each of the four days. His action-packed 70 was a roller-coaster with eight birdies, six bogeys and just four pars and came on the heels of 72-69-68 for a total of 9-under 279.

Asked what aspect of the game he could have improved, he said, “Just get rid of all the bogeys. I would probably be in the playoffs if I shot a bogey-free round.” “It was just one of those days, it just happened. I was playing the exact same golf, just trying to hit the fairway… green and trying to make the putt or else move on with the par, but just dropped a lot of shots but then I gained so many as well.” “I am thrilled to have shot eight birdies at the tough and challenging course here, which also hosts the Dubai Desert Classic and where McIlroy has won so many times.” Anshul also thanked his coach Jesse Grewal.

With four of the five Indians making the cut this week, the next best after Anshul was Dubai-based Raghav Gulati (73-70-71-75) at 1-over in tied-27th place. Rakshit Dahiya, the top-ranked Indian in the field at 342, shot 72-72-74-77 for a 7-over 295 and was T-42nd.

Ranveer Mitroo (74-71-77-76) was 10-over and T-48th. Harman Sachdeva missed the cut. PTI Cor AM AM AM