Pattaya, May 8: Prom Meesawat of Thailand ended a confidence-sapping five-year title drought in emphatic fashion with a runaway nine-stroke victory in the Singha Pattaya Open on the ASEAN PGA Tour on Sunday.

The burly 26-year-old carded a final-round 68 for a total of 20-under-par 268
at Burapha Golf Club. Fellow Thais Thammanoon Sriroj and Atthaphon Prathummanee were tied for second after shooting 72 and 69 respectively while the highly rated Rory Hie of Indonesia, who started the day three behind the leader, had a nightmarish 77 and finished tied for eighth.

Prom picked up a cheque for US$8,000 after his second victory in the Singha Pattaya Open following his triumph in 2006.“It is a very good win for me – it has been a long time since my last victory. This win will give me a lot of confidence,” he said.“Everything clicked for me this week. I holed a lot of good putts and I was hitting the ball really solid. Twenty-under-par shows I played really well.”

Prom, bidding for his first tournament win since 2006, stamped his authority early on with a spectacular eagle three at the opening hole and a birdie at the second. He bombed a five-wood 239 yards to eight foot and slammed home the eagle putt.“I had a great start with an eagle and a birdie on the par three which is not an easy hole,” said Prom, whose last victory was the SK Telecom Open in 2006.“That helped me a lot and took off the pressure. I just played my game from there.”

The final group was on the ninth fairway when strong winds and heavy rain caused a one hour and 40 minute delay and Prom stuttered a bit after the restart.

He was six ahead of Thammanoon at the turn and the gap stayed the same when both players bogeyed the 10th. Prom picked up three more birdies on the back nine as he coasted to victory. “Hopefully this will be the start of something big for me. The last time I won the Singha Pattaya Open I went on to win on the Asian Tour. I hope this is going to be a good omen,” added Prom.

Hie’s challenge disintegrated at the short par-four seventh hole when he hit his approach from a bunker out of bounds and ended up with a triple bogey seven. His rhythm gone, he bogeyed both the eighth and ninth to fall out of contention.

The 22-year-old Hie came into the tournament on a high after his runner-up finish behind Australia’s Andre Stolz in last month’s Indonesia PGA Championship on OneAsia and posed the biggest threat to Prom’s title ambitions.

There was a minute’s silence before the final group teed off in respect of golfing great Seve Ballesteros, who died on Saturday aged 54.“Seve Ballesteros was a genius on the course and a role model for players everywhere,” said Ramlan Haron, Executive Director, ASEAN PGA.“He did so much for golf not only in Europe but around the world. It is only fitting that we pay our respects to him with a minute’s silence.”

Leading scores after final round (Thai unless stated)

268 – Prom Meesawat 70-62-68-68
277 – Atthaphon Prathummanee 69-67-72-69, Thammanoon Sriroj 67-67-71-72
278 – Kwanchai Tannin 67-68-71-72
279 – Panuwat Muenlek 76-71-67-65, Udorn Duangdecha 70-67-74-68, Jay Bayron (PHI) 70-72-68-69
280 – Tanutchan Puaktes 72-69-71-68, Corey Harris (US) 68-71-70-71, Prayad Marksaeng 68-73-67-72, Rory Hie (INA) 70-66-67-77
282 – Kiradech Aphibarnrat 72-69-72-69, Chawalit Plaphol 74-67-68-73
283 – Piya Swangarunporn 69-74-71-69
284 – Namchok Tantipokhakul 70-71-72-71, Varut Chomchalam 73-70-68-73

Source: www.aseanpgatour.com