European Tour: Korea's Charlie Wi held his nerve to win the rain-shortened Maybank Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Wi, who holds a card for the Asian, Nationwide and European Tours, came up with a crucial birdie on the final hole to complete a final round of 63, nine under par.
Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee still had the chance to catch him at the last as he lined up a birdie putt, but he was unsuccessful with his effort and had to settle for second spot.
Wi finished 19 under par for the tournament and his reward was a first prize of $208,330.
"I'm really speechless. Coming in here, I wasn't expecting to win. I got a lot of good breaks today," Wi said. "And then Thongchai misses that putt on the last hole which really helped me win the championship. I just feel fortunate, all the hard work paid off," said the 34-year-old, who resides in the United States.
Also an expert skier and martial arts student, Wi was formerly a college star in America, trailing only Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink in the 1995 stroke average rankings.
Adverse weather on the first three days in the Malaysian capital forced organisers to reduce the event to 54 holes.
Going into the final day Jaidee, the defending champion at this event and going for a third title here in a row, shared joint second spot with Welshman David Park, but missed out on a play-off with Wi when a long birdie putt drifted off course by mere inches.
"I concentrated hard. I didn't think of anything and just stuck to my game plan," Jaidee, a two-time Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, said.
"I had birdie chances on the last two holes but didn't make them."
Of the missed putt on the last hole, he added: "It was a long putt, probably about 18 feet. The line was tricky, I read it right to left but it broke too much left. It's okay, I'm still happy."
One consolation for Jaidee is that his share of the prize money makes him the first player on the Asian Tour to earn $2 million over his career so far.
Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin posted the lowest round of the tournament on the final day, racking up 10 birdies to card a 62 and finish third overall.
"I played very good. It's the kind of golf course where if you read the green well, there are lots of chances which I took today.
"I had a good feeling on the greens and the ball rolled well," said the 2005 Madrid Open winner.
English duo Mark Foster and John Bickerton were tied for a share of fourth on 16 under with rounds of 63 and 66 respectively.
Park, who led after the second round, shot a final-round 72 and slipped back to joint eighth, while pre-tournament favourite - Padraig Harrington - tied for 13th, eight shots behind the winner Wi.
Gary Murphy also finished tied 13th after shooting a 71 yesterday.
Kuala Lumpur scores
Kuala Lumpur G&CC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Irish in bold, British unless stated, par 72. Tournament reduced to 54 holes because of weather delays.
197 - Charlie Wi (Kor) 66 68 63
198 - Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69 63 66
199 - Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 65 62
200 - John Bickerton 66 68 66, Mark Foster 71 66 63
202 - Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 70 66 66, Gary Simpson (Aus) 67 68 67
203 - Graeme Storm 70 68 65, David Park 67 64 72 Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 67 66, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 66 67 70
204 - Keith Horne (Rsa) 68 67 69
205 - Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 67 65 73, Padraig Harrington 69 69 67, Gary Murphy 66 68 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fr) 72 66 67, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69 69 67
206 - Sam Little 70 68 68, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 69 68, Scott Strange (Aus) 72 67 67, Phillip Archer 72 66 68, Simon Dyson 68 70 68, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 68 66, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 68 70 68, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 68 71 67
207 - Steven O'Hara 72 66 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 70 66, Richard Finch 66 72 69, Andrew Butterfield 69 70 68, Keng-chi Lin (Tpe) 69 69 69
208 - Wen Teh Lu (Tpe) 68 71 69, Alexandre Rocha (USA) 70 69 69, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 68 69 71, Shaaban Hussein (Mal) 71 67 70, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 65 71 72, Danny Chia (Mal) 70 67 71
209 - Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 68 72 69, Ross Fisher 69 71 69, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 63 76, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 70 69, Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 73 66 70, Unho Park (Aus) 72 65 72, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 72 67 70, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 71 69 69, Ted Oh (Kor) 72 69 68
210 - Mahal Pearce (Aus) 70 70 70, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 72 70, Benn Barham 73 68 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 64 77 69, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 70 71 69, Airil-Rizman Zahari (Mal) 74 64 72, Garry Houston 66 69 75, Tom Whitehouse 69 67 74, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 67 69 74
211 - Marco Ruiz (Par) 71 68 72, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 71 68 72, David Higgins 70 68 73, Anthony Kang (USA) 69 70 72, Simon Wakefield 70 69 72, Adam Blyth (Aus) 69 72 70, Marc Warren 70 71 70, Paul Dwyer 71 66 74
212 - Stephen Dodd 67 69 76, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 68 70 74, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 69 69 74, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 69 71 72
213 - Gerry Norquist (USA) 68 72 73, David Carter 70 71 72, Adam Le Vesconte (Aus) 66 72 75
214 - Wei-Tze Yeh (Tpe) 69 70 75, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 69 68 77 215 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 72 68 75
