Kuantan: Australia’s Kevin Marques claimed the biggest win of his amateur career after seeing off a resurgent Poom Saksansin of Thailand to lift the 111th Malaysian Amateur Open on Sunday.

Neck-to-neck with fellow Queenslander and joint overnight leader Taylor Macdonald for much of round, the 23-year-old took advantage of his compatriot’s triple bogey on the 13th to move into the lead before finishing off strongly with a pair of birdies for a three-under 68.

It proved enough for Marques to finish a stroke clear of Saksansin, who had earlier set the clubhouse target at nine-under 275 on the back of a tournament best six-under 65 at the sun-swept Royal Pahang Golf Club.

Macdonald, the top-ranked player in the field, bounced back strongly with a closing eagle to salvage a one-under 70, taking third place on 276 ahead of India’s Karan Taunk (67). The quartet of  Thailand’s Chanachok Dejpiratanamongkol (71), Udayan Mane of India (69), Indonesian Syukrizal (69) and Chinese Taipei’s Chieh Po-lee (72) were five strokes adrift in joint fifth.

Abel Tam (72) finished as the leading Malaysian with a four-day total of one-under 283 for a share of ninth alongside Singaporean duo Edgar Oh (71) and Jerome Ng (72).

Leading final round scores

274 – Kevin Marques (AUS) 68-66-72-68
275 – Poom Saksansin (THA) 69-70-71-65
276 – Taylor MacDonald (AUS) 68-67-71-70
277 – Karan Taunk (IND) 73-69-68-67
282 – Chanachok Dejpiratanamongkol (THA) 70-70-71-71, Udayan Mane (IND) 74-69-69-69, Syukrizal (INA) 72-72-69-69, Chieh Po-lee (TPE) 71-71-68-72,
283 – Edgar Oh (SIN) 70-72-70-71, Jerome Ng (SIN) 72-66-73-72, Abel Tam (MAS) 71-69-71-72