Randhawa comes so close in Spain

Asian Tour star Jyoti Randhawa came agonisingly close to a maiden title on the European Tour when he finished second in the Spanish Open on Sunday.

The Indian stalwart, a seven-time winner in Asia and ranked number one in 2002, finished one shot behind winner Charl Schwartzel of South Africa at Centro Nacional de Golf.

In his first tournament back after spending time at home to celebrate the arrival of his first child with wife Tina, Randhawa showed some rust in his game with an opening 75 but stormed into contention with further rounds of 65, 66 and 67.

It was a brilliant run for the Indian, who was hoping to become the third Indian after Arjun Atwal and Jeev Milkha Singh to win a European title, as he was four-over-par through 22 holes of the weather-disrupted tournament.

Randhawa battled superbly and did not suffer another bogey until the 15th hole of the final round where his par attempt from three feet horse-shoed out which dented his hopes as he was leading at that point. He failed to make any more birdies coming home, and was overtaken by Schwartzel, who eagled the 16th hole.

"I thought I had shot myself out of contention in the first round," said Randhawa. "But I knew I only had one really bad hole so I just kept plugging away."

"It was disappointing to miss out, but after the first day (75) I was proud to have fought like that with three good rounds," added the Indian, who enjoyed his fifth top-10 of the 2007 European Tour season.