ROOKIE WINS ASIA-PACIFIC PANASONIC OPEN

NEWS RELEASE FROM THE ASIAN TOUR

Hyogo, Japan: Asian Tour rookie Masanori Kobayashi produced a magical front nine to win the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open on home soil by one-shot on Sunday.

Kobayashi matched the second best nine hole score of seven-under-par 28 on the Asian Tour for nine-under-par 62 and a winning total of 17-under-par 267 at the Higashi Hirono Golf Club.

Koumei Oda closed with 67 for second while Shiv Kapur of India and Juvic Pagunsan of the Philippines shared fourth place after shooting a 67 and 71 respectively at the 150 million Yen (approximately US$1.9million) event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.

Kobayashi, who earned his Asian Tour card at Qualifying School in Thailand earlier this year, battled to his first Asian Tour win with five birdies and one eagle on the front nine followed by three birdies and one bogey on the back.

“My dream was always to win on the Asian Tour and in Japan and I’ve enjoyed the best of both Tours. This is indeed a very happy occasion in my career,” said the lanky 36-year-old, who won US$381,000.

Kobayashi, who was four groups in front of the leading flight, overcame a six-shot deficit but had to endure a nervy wait when he missed a tricky eight foot birdie putt on the last.

“When I missed that putt, I thought I was going to be in a play-off with Koumei (Oda). I was very nervous until fans started coming over and congratulating me because Oda made par on 18,” he smiled.

“This win does so much for me because I get to play in all the events on the Asian Tour. There are many big events coming up so this win puts me in good position,” added Kobayashi.

 

FINAL TOTALS

Par 284 (4x71) Yardage 7,020

267 - Masanori KOBAYASHI (JPN) 74-64-67-62.

268 - Koumei ODA (JPN) 64-69-68-67.

270 - Masamichi UEHIRA (JPN) 66-68-65-71.

271 - Shiv KAPUR (IND) 67-68-69-67, Tomohiro KONDO (JPN) 66-69-66-70, Juvic PAGUNSAN (PHI) 67-66-67-71.

272 - HWANG Jung-gon (KOR) 67-70-67-68, Hideto TANIHARA (JPN) 67-67-69-69, WU Ashun (CHN) 67-69-67-69, Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) 70-65-66-71.

273 - LIANG Wen-chong (CHN) 69-71-68-65, Darren BECK (AUS) 68-65-70-70.

274 - Marcus FRASER (AUS) 70-70-67-67, Kunihiro KAMII (JPN) 69-72-64-69, Yoshinobu TSUKADA (JPN) 68-69-68-69, Hiroyuki FUJITA (JPN) 64-68-70-72.