Jeev Milkha Singh kept up his terrific run of top-10 finishes in 2006 when he carded a one-under 70 in the final round of the Coca Cola Tokai Classic golf championship to finish joint-third in Shizuoka on Sunday.
In a tournament, which was played in very difficult conditions with winds and rain, Jeev had rounds of 69,72, 75 and 70 for a total of two-over 286, which was four short of winner Hidemasa Hoshino.
Hoshino played a superb four-under 67, which included four birdies in a row from 12th to 15th on the back nine on the final day. It was Hoshino's first title of the season and the second of his career in Japan.
Jeev, lying 12th last night after three rounds, had a series of steady pars from first to sixth before netting his first birdie, which was his only one of the front nine.
He dropped a bogey on 14th after missing the fairway, but quickly found a birdie on 15th to come under par. With three more pars he finished at 70 and two-over for tied third.
"I have been playing well this season and with a few putts here and there, the top-10s could have been even better and maybe a win or two," said Jeev, who is already leading on the UBS Asian Tour Order of Merit and is inside the top-50 in Europe too.
The 34-year-old Chandigarh golfer, who is having the finest year of his career, has now posted nine top-10 finishes in 13 starts and lies 14th in the Money List in Japan. In Asia and Europe, he has had five other top-10 finishes for a total of 14 top-10s in 29 starts this year.
Jeev needed a win or a sole second to have a shot of getting into the top-10 of the Japan Money List, which would have got him into the final stage of the US PGA Qualifying School. But he missed that and now takes a break next week before shifting to play in Europe for a couple of weeks.
Jeev tied for third with five others, which included Japan Tour leader, Shingo Katayama (72), Colombian Camilo
Villegas (71), Ryuichi Oda (69), Nobuhuro Masuda (66) and third round leader Hiroo Kawai (75).
