Singapore: Rahil Gangjee’s victory in the inaugural Volkswagen Masters China on Sunday has catapulted him into 13th place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

The Indian rookie, playing in only his fourth event of the year, triumphed in the $ 300,000 tournament after prevailing in a play-off over South Korea’s Mo Joong-kyung at Pine Valley Golf Club in Beijing.

His winner’s cheque of $ 48,450 took his year’s earnings to $ 50,732 and just outside the top-10 ranking on the money list.

Runner-up Mo moved from 28th to 11th place on the ranking with his total haul of $ 60,177. It was his fourth top-10 of the season.

Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee still leads the Order of Merit with $ 332,375 in earnings. The former paratrooper, winner of the Malaysian Open and Myanmar Open in February, is currently playing on the European Tour.

India’s Jyoti Randhawa trails the Thai in second place with his haul of $ 221,422 while Japan’s Hideto Tanihara is third with $ 194,197.

Gangjee sensationally triumphed in the Volkswagen Masters which featured European Ryder Cup player Phillip Price, who finished tied third, six-time major winner Nick Faldo and Welshman Ian Woosnam.

The circuit now heads to the Macau Open beginning Thursday, with world No. 8 Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Chinese star Zhang Lianwei headlining the event. The Macau Open is the 10th leg of this season’s Asian Tour.

Meanwhile, professional golfer Ajay Gupta, coach of Gangjee for the past five years, was “very thrilled, very excited and very proud”of his protégé’s achievement.

“You know, Rahil is like a bull terrier, once he grabs hold of something, he just doesn’t let go. I think that is one quality of his which helped him overcome the obvious lack of experience of playing at such level,” said an elated Gupta.