Asian Tour rookie Aussie Sinnott wins Myanmar Open by three shots

 

ASIAN TOUR NEWS RELEASE

Yangon, Myanmar, January 29: Asian Tour rookie Todd Sinnott of Australia secured a convincing three-shot victory at the Leopalace21 Myanmar Open today (Sunday) in only his second tournament in Asia.

 

The 25-year-old Sinnott fired a flawless six-under-par 65 for a winning total of 14-under-par 270 to defeat Carlos Pigem of Spain, who closed with a 68 at the US$750,000 event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.

 

After hitting six balls into the water in the opening two rounds, Sinnott had to fight tooth-and-nail to make the halfway cut. He moved from 40^th position to tied fourth after the third day and cruised to victory thanks to six birdies in the final round.

 

Sinnott was three-under after 12 holes but it was a pair of birdies on 13 and 14 which put him in contention. As his challengers slipped down the leaderboard, he had a comfortable three-shot cushion heading into the last hole where he sealed the deal with a birdie.

 

Pigem, who won his first Asian Tour title last year, produced three straight birdies after the ninth hole to charge into contention but slipped back when he double bogeyed the 12^th hole. A birdie on the last handed him his best finish since winning in Chinese Taipei in July, 2016.

 

Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines birdied the closing two holes to finish on a 69 after dropping a double bogey on the third hole. He finished in tied third place alongside Koreans K.T. Kim (65) and Sungjae Im (71) on 274 at the Pun Hlaing Golf Club.

 

Overnight leader Yusaku Miyazato of Japan stumbled to a disappointing 73 as he finished in a share of sixth place, five shots from the champion Sinnott.

 

 

Scores after round 4 of the Leopalace21 Myanmar Open 2017 being played at the par 71, 7103 Yards Pun Hlaing GC course (am - denotes amateur):

 

270 - Todd SINNOTT (AUS) 72-69-64-65.

273 - Carlos PIGEM (ESP) 70-67-68-68.

274 - Sungjae IM (SKOR) 70-69-70-65, Miguel TABUENA (PHI) 67-69-69-69, K.T. KIM (SKOR) 66-69-68-71.

275 - Azuma YANO (JPN) 65-72-70-68, David OH (USA) 70-67-69-69, Yusaku MIYAZATO (JPN) 67-64-71-73.

276 - Rikuya HOSHINO (JPN) 69-68-72-67, Satoshi KODAIRA (JPN) 70-68-69-69, Shubhankar SHARMA (IND) 70-68-69-69, Kyungnam KANG (SKOR) 69-67-70-70, Daniel CHOPRA (SWE) 67-71-68-70, Sihwan KIM (USA) 66-70-68-72.

277 - Matthew GRIFFIN (AUS) 69-71-71-66, Thanyakon KHRONGPHA (THA) 70-71-70-66, Keith HORNE (RSA) 66-68-74-69, Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) 71-65-72-69, Adam BLAND (AUS) 73-67-66-71.

278 - Michio MATSUMURA (JPN) 69-67-72-70, HUNG Chien-yao (TPE) 72-69-67-70.

279 - Hyungsung KIM (KOR) 71-72-69-67, Hideto TANIHARA (JPN) 70-72-69-68, Casey O'TOOLE (USA) 69-70-71-69.

280 - Makoto INOUE (JPN) 66-69-75-70, Johannes VEERMAN (USA) 72-70-68-70, Thitiphun CHUAYPRAKONG (THA) 69-70-70-71.