Kajang [SELANGOR]: An in-form Ben Leong rallied with an impressive eight-under 64 closing effort to seal his third Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour victory at the Impian Championship on Saturday.

Following up on back-to-back top three finishes at the Port Dickson and Jimei Korea Kulim Championships, Leong was not lacking in confidence as he soared to a four-shot victory over Nachimuthu Ramasamy at the Impian Golf & Country Club.

Trailing by two at the start of the final round, the Sabahan nailed nine birdies against a single bogey at the last, lifting him to 17-under-par 271 winning overall.

Nachimuthu fared almost as good, firing a bogey-free 66 to finish three shots ahead of third round leader Lam Yu Shuen, who will have to wait a little longer for his first win after a disappointing 73.

Sivachandhran Supramaniam (67) and youngster Shahriffuddin Ariffin (68) settled for joint fourth on 280.

“After a number of close finishes, I’m happy to finally return to the winning circle,” said the 30-year-old Leong.

“It was not as easy as it looks. I played well throughout, although I slipped up a little in the third round yesterday. But I stayed patient and to bounce back with such a solid round of golf fills me with satisfaction.

“It’s always nice to win on Tour and this is no different. It obviously gives you more confidence and I’ll be looking forward to build on this result,” added the former Asian Tour winner.

Leading final round scores (Par-72) >
271 – Ben Leong 69-67-71-64
275 – Nachimuthu Ramasamy 72-70-67-66
278 – Lam Yu Shuen 68-69-68-73
280 – Sivachandhran Supramaniam 74-70-69-67, Shahriffuddin Ariffin 68-75-69-68
281 – Sukree Othman 69-71-76-65, Kemarol Baharin 71-67-75-68
282 – Abel Tam 71-71-70-70, Mohd Zur’ie Harun 73-70-69-70, Shaifubari Muda 67-70-74-71