Written by: Akash Porwal

The Royal Cup golf tournament is played on the Asian Tour in Thailand. It started off as a ‘special event’ in December 2017. At the first tournament the prize money did not count in the Order of Merit and the tournament didn’t attract any world ranking points. After 2017 the tournament became a full Asian Tour event in it’s second edition in 2018. The Royal's Cup in the season 2022 is being played in Kanchanaburi, Thailand at the Grand Prix Golf Club. This event has taken place after a 3 year gap due to COVID restrictions. The tournament started on Thursday, 24th of February and ended on Sunday, 27th of February 2022.

Rashid Khan (Pic Credits:Asian Tour)

The Royal's Cup is part of the Asian Tour in the season 2022. In 2022 all players competing for a total prize money of US$ 400,000. The course for the tournament at Grand Prix Golf Club plays at Par 72. On Sunday, the final day of the Royal Cup. India’s Rashid Khan shot one of his best rounds on the Asian Tour while rising from the tied 47^th to tied 6^th rank. After making the cut on the line this week, Rashid shot 70 in the third round before catching pace in the final round.

Rashid, starting from the 10th, birdied three in a row from 12^th to 14^th and added a fourth birdie on 18^th. With three in a row from first to third and three more from fifth to seventh, it meant seven birdies in a span of eight holes from 18th to seventh. Whereas in the third round Rashid only had three birdies on holes 6^th, 14^th and 18^th with a bogey at hole 9^th. Even though he didn’t have a good start, Round 4  was the changing point in his game with no bogeys and 10 birdies he rolled up on the scoreboard to the tied 6^th rank.

Chan Shih Chang with the Cup (Pic Credits: Asian Tour)

Rashid is a two-time winner on Asian Tour. He blazed the Grand Prix County Club with 10-under 62 as he totalled 15-under after being 5-under following the third round. Rashid’s best on Asian Tour is 11-under 61 which he carded while winning the 2014 Sail-SBI Open on Asian Tour. In 2020 Rashid had two more Top-10s in the three starts in a truncated Asian Tour schedule. For Rashid, this result showed a return to form after a superb 2019, when he had six Top-10s on Asian Tour. In six starts since the Asian Tour started late last year, Rashid has missed just one cut at Blue Canyon.

Chan Shih-Chang of Taiwan won the Royal’s Cup inaugural trophy leaving behind Thailand’s Sadom and America’s Shiwah Kim tied at 2^nd position. Chan made a hole in one in Round 2. This victory should move him up by around 150 spots from his current World Ranking of 338.

Beside Rashid Khan, 4 other players made the cut at Royal Cup. S Chikkarangappa started the day at 12-under and tied fifth place, carded 2-under 70 and slipped to tied 12^th. In Round 1 he started with 6 birdies and 1 bogie but till the last round he only had 2 birdies to his name and no bogies but missed a lot of chance. Rahil Gangjee was the next best to S Chikkara and finished at tied 37^th  at 9-under and a total of 69 in Round 4, while Aman Raj(71) and Viraj Madappa(70) were tied at 45^th at 7-under. As the Royal Cup has come to an end, now the players will turn their attention to the $1.5 million Saudi Arabian funded international series at Hua Hin, Thailand, which tees off on Thursday.