ASIAN TOUR LAST-DAY UPS AND DOWNS
Richard T Lee after his victory
LEADER HAS A 12 - LEE STEPS IN TO
WIN THE THRILLER AT MANILA
NEWS RELEASE FROM ASIAN TOUR
Canlubang,
Manila: Canada’s Richard T Lee claimed a sensational
comeback victory in the Solaire Open at the expense of home favourite
Angelo Que whose title chances were dashed after one bad hole in the final round today.
Lee
overcame a four-shot deficit in the fourth round with a two-under-par 69
to defeat Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol by one shot and win his first
Asian Tour title at the US$300,000 event.
Overnight
leader Que was on course for a fourth Asian Tour win before disaster
struck on the par-five second hole when he shot a 12 after hitting three
out-of-bound tee shots at the challenging The Country Club.
Carlos
Pigem of Spain shot a 69 for tied third while Steve Lewton of England,
Paul Peterson of the United States and Masahiro Kawamura of Japan, whose
65 was the day’s lowest score, shared fourth.
“This
win means so much to me and it opens so many doors. To be honest, I
felt like I was in contention for the first three days. I shot under-par
each day and I knew that if I can came out on the last day to play the
way I did then I would have a chance to win. I’m glad I did just that!”
said Lee, who totalled seven-under-par 277 to win US$54,000.
Lee,
whose parents are South Korean, was ecstatic with his maiden victory after
enjoying a solid rookie season on the Asian Tour in 2013 where he
finished 32nd on the Order of Merit.
However, there was a
sense of disappointment as he had to watch his best friend Que walk away
empty handed.
“It
was a learning experience for me on the Asian Tour last year. I met
some great people like Angelo Que, Unho Park and Lam Chih Bing. They are
good players and I learnt a lot from them.
"I wished Angelo luck before the final round and told him to play his best. It was unfortunate to see what
happened to him,” said the 23-year-old Lee.
Lee
has endured many ups-and-downs in his career. As an amateur, he
qualified for the 2007 US Open but struggled to perform due to a wrist
injury. Learning from that experience, he ensured that he sealed the
deal at the Solaire Open with a 25ft birdie putt on the 15th hole.
“I
was looking at the leaderboard out there. When I made birdie on 12, I
told myself that if I can make one more birdie then I can make it
happen.
"The birdie on 15 was a great and solid putt. I think that birdie
made me win the tournament,” he smiled.
Chawalit,
a four-time Asian Tour winner, narrowly missed a huge 35-feet birdie
putt on the last which he needed to make to force a play-off.
“I
can’t take my round back. It is a lesson learnt from me. I feel bad
because I had a chance to win but blew it on one hole. These things
happen. That’s golf and life.
"All you can do is look back and see what
you’ve learnt and move on. I just had one bad day. Everybody has bad
days. Unfortunately for me, it had to be today and on one hole!” said
Que.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4x71) Yardage: 7,206
277 Richard T. LEE (CAN) 68-70-70-69.
278 Chawalit PLAPHOL (THA) 68-72-68-70.
279 Carlos PIGEM (ESP) 69-70-71-69.
280 Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) 71-69-75-65, Stephen LEWTON (ENG) 74-69-70-67, Paul PETERSON (USA) 72-68-71-69.
281 Andrew DODT (AUS) 70-71-70-70, Clyde MONDILLA (PHI) 71-70-67-73, Miguel TABUENA (PHI) 67-68-70-76.
282 Sam BRAZEL (AUS) 66-75-70-71, David LIPSKY (USA) 71-68-71-72.
283 Bryce EASTON (RSA) 69-68-74-72, Akinori TANI (JPN) 69-72-67-75, WANG Jeung-hun (KOR) 71-67-68-77.
Labels: ASIAN TOUR
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