Ballantine's Championship: Thongchai Jaidee won the Ballantine's Championship at Jeju Island's Pinx Golf Club earlier today after beating South Korea's Kang Sung-hoon and Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano on the first hole of a play-off. The 39-year-old Thai clinched his fourth European Tour title when he made birdie on the par-four 18th, the first hole of the play-off.
Fernandez-Castano lost his opportunity in the play-off when his second shot went through the back of the green, while Kang disappointed the locals when he pushed his six-foot birdie putt wide after he and Thongchai had reached the green in two shots.
The 22-year-old Kang, who hails from Jeju Island, also threw away a one-shot lead in regulation with a bogey on the last hole of a round which featured two eagles.
Thongchai, who had begun the day four shots behind overnight leader Robert-Jan Derksen, finished on four-under 284 for the tournament at the Pinx Golf Club.
He started the day strongly with a birdie at the par-four first and another at the fourth before he dropped a shot at the fifth. Picking up another birdie at the 10th, he held par for the rest of the round to post a two-under 70 and forced his way into the playoff.
"When we got to the play-off, I knew that I would stand a good chance as I had just finished playing that hole about 15 minutes ago," Thongchai said of winning his 12th Asian Tour title. "I knew the distance well and I was ready."
"The tournament is never finished and you never know who is going to win the tournament until the last day," Thongchai added. "I just had to believe in myself that I can do it."
Fernandez-Castano made the biggest charge of the day after starting five shots behind Derksen, taking a share of the lead with compatriot Pablo Martin at the turn on the back of two birdies and an eagle three at the fourth.
The 29-year-old mixed two birdies with two bogeys on the home stretch to finish with a 69, while Martin's challenge collapsed on the back nine when he shot three bogeys and a double bogey six at the 13th for a 76.
Kang made an eagle on the par-five 10th and another on the par-five 16th to combine with two birdies on the front nine, although the bogey at the last ruined his chance of winning a first European Tour title.
Derksen, who had a two-shot lead entering Sunday's final round, also slumped to a 76 after three bogeys on his front nine and finished on two-under.
The Dutchman finished in a tie for fourth with Britain's Seve Benson (69), Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello (70) and South Africa's three-times major winner Ernie Els (71).
Collated final round scores & totals
(Irl & Gbr unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)
284Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 66 71 77 70 (Thongchai Jaidee won the three way play off with a birdie 3 at the first extra hole), Sung-hoon Kang (Kor) 69 71 76 68, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 65 74 76 69
286Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 66 69 75 76, Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 74 73 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 72 76 70, Seve Benson 69 70 78 69
287Danny Willett 69 76 73 69, Peter Lawrie70 75 76 66, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 69 70 77 71
288Ho-sung Choi (Kor) 69 72 76 71, Pablo Martin (Spa) 69 69 74 76, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 68 74 71, Jason Knutzon (USA) 67 74 75 72
289Brett Rumford (Aus) 68 73 76 72, Scott Barr (Aus) 68 72 76 73, Wook-Soon Kang (Kor) 68 69 77 75, Kyung-nam Kang (Kor) 66 73 75 75
290Richard Bland 73 72 78 67, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 68 73 74 75, Gwang-Soo Choi (Kor) 71 70 74 75, Mark Brown (Nzl) 65 73 78 74, Graeme Storm 72 68 78 72
291Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 70 75 77 69, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 72 71 76, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 71 71 77 72
292Zane Scotland 70 73 76 73, Gareth Maybin70 72 78 72, Hyung-tae Kim (Jpn) 68 72 82 70, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 72 68 76 76
293Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 72 78 74, A-Shun Wu (Chn) 69 75 80 69, Nick Dougherty 71 72 77 73
294Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 72 72 76 74, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 67 71 84 72, Iain Steel (Mal) 70 73 80 71, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 72 81 70, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 71 74 76 73, Lee Westwood 71 73 76 74, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 75 75 74
295Chris Wood 75 70 76 74, Soon-sang Hong (Kor) 68 74 78 75, Andrew Tschudin (Aus) 70 75 75 75, Simon Dyson 69 75 78 73, Barry Lane 71 74 78 72
296Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 71 69 80 76, Robert Dinwiddie 67 73 82 74, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 73 72 77 74, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 68 74 82 72, Paul McGinley73 72 78 73
297Branden Grace (Rsa) 69 70 81 77
298Prom Meesawat (Tha) 71 73 81 73, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 68 72 80 78, Fred Couples (USA) 69 76 81 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 74 81 75
299Joong Kyung Mo (Kor) 70 73 77 79
300Wil Besseling (Ned) 71 74 80 75, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 73 71 81 75, Hyung-sung Kim (Kor) 69 76 78 77
301Inder Van Weerelt (Ned) 70 74 83 74, Scott Drummond 70 75 81 75, Wen-hong Lin (Chn) 69 70 84 78, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 72 79 78
302Myung-ho Kwon (Kor) 72 72 82 76
303Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 71 74 86 72, Rhys Davies 70 73 82 78, Ted Oh (Kor) 70 75 80 78
304Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 69 74 84 77, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 74 83 76, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 71 74 81 78
305Digvijay Singh (Ind) 73 71 82 79
306Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 73 72 84 77
308Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 72 87 77
321Somkiat Sri-sanga (Tha) 73 72 89 87
