Bangkok, Thailand: Malaysia’s rising star Nicholas Fung celebrated a career milestone during the final round of OneAsia’s Thailand Open today when he carded the lowest round of his young career.
The 21-year-old Fung toured Suwan Golf and Country Club in seven-under-par 65, a round that included nine birdies and two bogeys. He soared up the leaderboard from joint 56th to end joint 24th, taking home US$7,837.
“That’s the lowest I’ve gone in a professional tournament and I feel fantastic right now,” said Fung, who finished on nine under 279 (67-74-73-65). “I was a bit lucky today but I will take it. My iron play was great today and I hit inside 10 foot of the pin a lot of times and gave myself plenty of birdie chances.”
Further up the leaderboard, Andre Stolz secured his second victory of the season on OneAsia when he triumphed in the US$1million tournament after an enthralling head to head battle with Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng.
Stolz, who won the season opening US$1million Indonesia PGA Championship in March, fired a final round nine-under-par 63 for a tournament haul of 22-under-par 266 to beat Prayad by two shots. Korean’s Choi Jin-ho and Australian Brent McCullough tied for third on 17 under par.
The Australian had started the day three behind overnight leader and local favourite but stormed through with nine birdies including six on the front side.
The two combatants were tied on 21-under-par through 14 holes but Stolz’ brilliant 30 foot birdie putt on the 15th proved to be crucial after Prayad missed a much shorter birdie putt.
The 45-year-old Thai then missed another golden opportunity to draw level on 17th when he failed to connect from eight foot before seeing his bid to become only the third Thai to win his national Open go up in smokes after taking a drink with his third shot on the finishing hole.
“I hit a lot of great shots early on and obviously Prayad and I were battling each other – it was great fun. I knew I had to get a fast start and he comes out making birdies as well. The heat knocked me about and I battled the last four or five holes and hit a lot of horrible shots,” shared Stolz.
“Today I was hoping to shoot five or six under to win the trophy but Stolz was too good. If you ask me whether I feel disappointed or not, I think I did my best. I played with him the first two days and he did not putt so well like he did today. The turning point was hole seven where I missed a one footer. He did everything perfectly,” said Prayad, who won US$102,000.
Final round scores (top ten and ties)
266 Andre Stolz (AUS) 69-70-64-63
268 Prayad Marksaeng (THA) 70-67-63-68
271 Brent McCullough (AUS) 73-65-67-66, Choi Jin-ho (KOR) 68-67-67-69
272 Tomokazu Yoshinaga (JPN) 72-67-65-68
273 Jamie Arnold (AUS) 69-69-69-66
274 Kim Meen-whee (KOR) 69-72-67-66, Kim Woo-hyun (KOR) 73-68-64-69, Wu Ashun (CHN) 69-67-67-71
275 John Huh (USA) 70-68-70-67, Kim Do-hoon (KOR) 74-66-68-67, Prom Meesawat (THA) 69-69-69-68, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 68-67-71-69, Pariya Junhasavasdikul (THA) 68-69-68-70
