New Delhi: Jeev Milkha Singh scaled a whopping 18 places marking upward movement in the international golf ranking chart for the second consecutive week.

Jeev, who finished tied-fourth with an excellent two-under 70 at the Smurfit European Open Golf Championship in Ireland Sunday, was placed 144th to become the only Indian golfer inside 150 ranks.

The current leader of the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit, who recorded his ninth top-10 finish this year, however, narrowly missed out on the British Open berth.

It was just contrasting luck for his compatriots like Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal and Shiv Kapur, who were distantly placed below the Chandigarh player.

Randhawa’s fall continued this week as well as he slid five places to 159, Atwal nine places to 177 and Kapur four places to 176.

A missed final hole birdie made all the difference as Jeev Milkha narrowly missed out on the British Open on Sunday. “Missing out on the Open berth was disappointing but then I am happy that I fought well to come fourth,” said Jeev, who moves to Loch Lomond for the Barclays Scottish Open this week.

Jeev’s 70 saw him total six-under-par 282 for the week and he ended three shots behind winner Dodd. Jeev earned over 126,000 euros and moved from 36th to 31st in European Order of Merit.

The other Indian in the fray, Jyoti Randhawa, was tied 61st after signing off with a 78. He had two double bogeys including one on the final 18th, which he had birdied on the first three days.

Thai star Thongchai Jaidee also enjoyed a solid week, closing with a 71 to earn tied 15th place in the European Tour event.

Jeev began the final round in tied 12th place and with an opening hole bogey he dropped further down. But Jeev fought back superbly for four birdies in five holes, starting from the fourth and added two more birdies on the 16th and 17th holes for his strong finish.

The title seemed to be fought very tightly before Dodd turned the tide with birdies on the 16th and the very difficult par-3 17th.

(PTI)