TIM HELEN WINS TAIWAN SENIOR EVENT BY FIVE
FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Tim
Thelen claimed his third European Senior Tour title of the year after
the American soared to a five shot victory at the Fubon Senior Open
thanks to a three under par final round of 69.
In
the process, Thelen ensured that he will finish in the top four of the
2012 Senior Tour Order of Merit and has therefore earned a place in next
year’s US Senior Open Championship.
In
trying conditions at Miramar Golf & Country Club, Thelen flourished
as his closest challenger and overnight leader going into the final
round, Jong Duck Kim, struggling to a nine over par
81.
The
man from Texas, who has become the first American to claim three Senior
Tour titles in one season since John Grace in 2000, started steadily
with pars at the first six holes and by the time
he reached the seventh tee, Thelen had made up the three shot overnight
deficit as Kim bogeyed the third, fifth and sixth.
Thelen
seized the opportunity and vanquished his contender to the throne in
clinical fashion as he recorded back to back birdies at the seventh and
eighth while Kim dropped a further three shots
with a bogey followed by a double bogey.
Suddenly,
the 51 year old was five shots clear and not even his first bogey of
the tournament at the ninth hole, after finding water, could halt him in
his path as he sank a superb 18 foot putt
at the 13th to card another birdie and put one hand firmly on the trophy.
Thereafter,
Thelen was never going to be caught but he finished in style
nonetheless, splitting the fairway with his drive down the par five 18th
before firing a two iron to 18 feet
and two-putting for a birdie which earned him a winning score of 14
under par – the exact score he had targeted at the beginning of the
week.
“It’s
unbelievable,” said Thelen. “Words cannot describe how incredible this
is for me. I had been a teaching pro for over 20 years and I was just
delighted to get on the Senior Tour last year
but to win three times this year is just unfathomable.
“The
fact that I am out here playing with some of the best Senior players in
the world is so great but to be competing and winning is just way
beyond my wildest dreams.
“I
played really well all three days out here and the wind blew hard today
and when it rained, it rained really heavily but I hung in there and
thankfully I came out with the win.”
Frankie
Minoza of the Philippines and South African Chris Williams both had
opportunities at the last hole to narrow the winning margin to four but
both missed close putts for birdie and settled
for a share of second place on nine under par.
Former
Senior Tour Order of Merit winner Boonchu Ruangkit finished in fourth
place on eight under par while the best of the Taiwanese was Ji-xiang
Lin, who carded a final round 75 to finish
in tenth place on four under par.
Thelen’s
rise to prominence has been one of the stories of the 2012 Senior Tour
season and provides a beacon of hope for any players attempting to gain
entry to the tour via the Qualifying School
system.
A
former college mate of Colin Montgomerie at Houston Baptist University,
Thelen won Qualifying School by five shots to gain an exemption for the
2011 campaign and he retained that card thanks
to a 24th place finish in the Order of Merit last year.
But
this year his career has been launched to a whole new stratosphere, as
the two-time National PGA Club Professional Championship winner claimed
his maiden Senior Tour title at the Berenberg
Bank Masters before following that up immediately with a second win at
the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open the following week.
His
latest victory caps an incredible year for Thelen and he will be hoping
to build on that at the season-ending MCB Tour Championship in
Mauritius in December.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
202 T Thelen (USA) 66 67 69
207 F Minoza (Phi) 72 64 71, C Williams (RSA) 69 68 70
208 B Ruangkit (Tha) 70 67 71
209 P Wesselingh (Eng) 71 69 69
210 G Norquist (USA) 71 69 70, A Murray (Eng) 67 71 72, T Price (Aus) 73 69 68
211 J Kim (Kor) 67 63 81
212 J Lin (Tpe) 70 67 75
213 C Lu (Tpe) 72 69 72, K Tomori (Jpn) 72 69 72, A Franco (Par) 72 66 75
214 G Ryall (Eng) 72 68 74, D Merriman (Aus) 70 69 75, M Kuramoto (Jpn) 70 73 71
215 G Ralph (Eng) 72 67 76, M Belsham (Eng) 73 71 71
216 Z Martinez (USA) 70 73 73, R Gibson
(Can) 72 71 73, T Wang (Tpe) 68 71 77, B Longmuir (Sco) 68 73 75, M
Kierstenson (Eng) 73 69 74
217 R Drummond (Sco) 69 72 76, G
Wolstenholme (Eng) 68 71 78, K Tarling (Can) 73 69 75, J Gould (Eng) 73
71 73, M Cunning (USA) 70 71 76, G Manson (Aut) 71 72 74, P Dahlberg
(Swe) 66 75 76, T Charnley (Eng) 72 71 74
218 N Job (Eng) 72 70 76, C Chung (Tpe) 72 70 76, M Harwood (Aus) 71 72 75
219 D Cambridge (Jam) 75 70 74, L Carbonetti (Arg) 73 72 74, J Harrison (Eng) 72 75 72
220 T Elliott (Aus) 71 73 76
221 S Van Vuuren (RSA) 70 76 75, C
Chang (Tpe) 74 73 74, T Chen (Tpe) 73 74 74, C Shen (Tpe) 74 73 74, A
Gilligan (Aus) 74 70 77
222 J Bruner (USA) 76 69 77, K Spurgeon (Eng) 73 74 75, J Chen (Tpe) 71 76 75, T Chen (Tpe) 72 75 75
223 H Chang (Tpe) 70 76 77, B Hardwick
(Can) 74 73 76, M Briggs (Eng) 73 72 78, G Banister (Aus) 74 70 79, P
Smith (Sco) 75 69 79, S Hsu (Tpe) 77 68 78
225 S Ebihara (Jpn) 72 75 78, J Murphy (Eng) 73 73 79, S Bennett (Eng) 74 71 80, C Chang (am) (Tpe) 75 70 80
226 T Chen (Tpe) 71 72 83
227 C Yu (Tpe) 74 73 80
228 S McNally (Eng) 76 71 81
229 G Brand (Eng) 72 74 83
231 B Stevens (Eng) 74 73 84
Labels: Pro seniors
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