Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut brought the Asian Tour season to a memorable conclusion today after an emphatic four-stroke victory in the US$1.5 million BNI Indonesian Masters.
The 24-year-old fired a closing four-under-par 68, for a four-round aggregate of 20 under, at Royale Jakarta Golf Club to claim his first Asian Tour title, while Anirban Lahiri, the winner here in 2014, finished in second place after carding a 66.
Related: Sunday holds the key to Sarit’s Asian Tour dreams
Chinese-Taipei’s Chan Shih-chang and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, both returned 69s to tie for third, five behind the winner.
American Sihwan Kim wrapped up the Asian Tour Order of Merit (OOM) title after finishing in a tie for 28th, while Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe secured the International Series OOM, by finishing in equal 10th position.
The weather, which had caused numerous delays since Thursday, had a final say today when lightning stopped play at 1.09pm with Sarit having two holes left to play and with a comfortable five-shot lead. Play resumed at 2.30pm with the rising Thai star able to par his way home.
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“I think I almost cried coming down the 18th,” said Sarit.
“I just can’t put into words how I feel. I am just happy. I didn’t feel the pressure that much, I was just enjoying my game. I have just enjoyed the whole week.
“I worked with my coach last week and we discovered something with the set up. I wasn’t hitting it good for the Pro Am and the first round but we looked at the video and decided to squat more and get my chin up a little bit, just small things that made a really big impact.”
Delays caused by bad weather over the first three days, meant Sarit had to complete the final four holes of his third round early this morning, following a 6.45am restart.
He parred 15, 16, and 17 before holing a testing 12 footer for a birdie on the 18th to lead on 16 under by three from countryman Kosuke Hamamoto.
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And he was never threatened in the final round making the turn in three under with a birdie on six and an eagle on nine before more birdies on 12 and 15. His only dropped shot came on 16 before the badly timed weather delay added more pressure to the closing stages.
He added: “It’s been a really tough year. I had COVID at the start of the year, later I couldn’t get a visa for Korea, and I was battling to keep my card at one point. I am so happy.”
While Lahiri was not able to win this event for a second time he was more than happy with his week’s work.
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He said: “It was a really good week. I think I finally got into some rhythm you know, just coming off not playing much golf. I think I was surprised on Thursday that I played the way I did. And then the next two rounds were more like what I was expecting, but I think as I played more and more I started getting into a good rhythm.
“Just a few kinks in my game, I worked on my putting yesterday after the delay. I was really happy with the way I started swinging it, much better, more like what I like to see from my game.”
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Chan was also pleased with his final Asian Tour event of the year, during a season which saw him win twice.
“Today was good but I think on some holes I should have made birdies, I feel like if today was more lucky I could have been more under par. I kept trying to get a low score until the last end. This year has been very good, a perfect year, it’s been very nice.
“I won in Thailand and I in Taiwan, I’m so happy to win in Taiwan. I’m confident on the golf course now, so when I came this week I just wanted to try to improve my ranking and this week was very nice.”
