Golfer Khalin aim to go one better at Bangladesh Open

Young Indian golfer Khalin Joshi hopes to put his past experience at the Bashundhara Bangladesh Open to good use when the Asian Tour event gets underway in Dhaka next week.

The 23-year-old Indian, who finished tied second in the last edition for his best result on the Asian Tour, is confident he can go one spot higher when he returns to the Kurmitola Golf Club.

Khalin will be among an elite 138-man field battling for honours at the $300,000 Asian Tour event staged from February 10 to 13.

"I had a great experience last year and I learnt a lot. It gave me a lot of positive thoughts on my game and made me feel that I am capable of winning on the Asian Tour. I am looking forward to next week," Khalin said in an Asian Tour release.

"I love playing on that course. It suits my eyes and it's a fair test of all aspects of the game. It's not a very long course. You need to keep the ball in play and hit as many fairways as you can. Putting has to be spot on too."

Despite missing out on his Tour card by two rungs after finishing 65th on the 2015 Order of Merit, Joshi capped a relatively good season where he enjoyed a top-10 finish at the season-ending Philippine Open.

"Last year was a great learning year as I got to play most of the events on the Asian Tour. It was disappointing not to keep my card for 2016 but I took a lot of positives from the season and I hope to capitalise on them this year," added the Bengaluru golfer.

Other notable players to feature in the Bashundhara Bangladesh Open include homegrown hero Siddikur Rahman, defending champion Mardan Mamat of Singapore, reigning Asian Development Tour Order of Merit champion Casey O'Toole of the United States, as well as Thai veteran Thaworn Wiratchant and countryman Danthai Boonma.