Singapore, Sep 16 (IANS)
Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant proved that one should never write him off when he saved the best for last by snatching the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) title from American rookie Chan Kim to win his record 16th Asian Tour title.
While the 46-year-old has not lit the scene in his previous eight starts before his arrival in Chinese Taipei, the reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit champion showed his mettle by going the distance to ink another piece of history and leapfrog from 63rd place to 14th on the merit rankings with his season haul of $116,134.
“I’m very proud because I can still win at the age of 46. I was really struggling with my irons but I chipped and putted so well. I honestly didn’t think that I could win,” said Thaworn, whose best result prior to Sunday was a tied 28th finish in Indonesia in May.
Nature played a pivotal role when the veteran clinched the inaugural TPC title in 2010 which proved to be Thaworn’s lucky star again when play was suspended for over an hour Sunday in Taipei, allowing him to regroup and map out his final strategy.
“I was lucky when I won the TPC in 2010. Nature helped me that year because we only played 54 holes. After the first four holes, I didn’t think I had a chance to win the tournament at all this time because Chan Kim played very well. Play was suspended for an hour and it got better for me after that because I birdied five and six,” said Thaworn.
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat continues to lead the Order of Merit on $679,999 with India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar and Australia’s Scott Hend in second and third place, respectively, on $279,193 and $273,128.
The Asian Tour will take a week’s break before heading to Japan for the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open which tees off from Sep 26-29.
Asian Tour Order of Merit Top-10:
1 Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) $679,999.36
2 Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) $279,193.59
3 Scott HEND (AUS) $273,128.13
4 Thongchai JAIDEE (THA) $238,391.48
5 BAEK Seuk-hyun (KOR) $186,068.54
6 LIANG Wen-chong (CHN) $185,383.29
7 Anirban LAHIRI (IND) $148,085.24
8 Wade ORMSBY (AUS) $145,317.27
9 Shiv KAPUR (IND) $129,934.57
10 Berry HENSON (USA) $125,616.15
