Colin Montgomerie has failed to make this year’s Masters; however, he didn’t go down without a fight. Monty shot a final-round 60, including nine straight birdies to finish in a tie for fourth. Montgomerie could have shot a 59, but instead left a 10-foot birdie putt short on his final hole.
Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant joins Thongchai Jaidee as the second Thai to win on the European Tour. Wiratchant finished at 25-under to win the Indonesia Open, which was jointly sponsored by the the European and Asian Tours. Wiratchant shot a third round 66 and final round 63, his third round of -7 of the week.
Wiratchant played 27 holes on Sunday to catch-up, completing his third round leading by 3. He shot is final round 63 to win by 5 over France’s Raphael Jacquelin. WIratchant’s 72-hole total would have established a new record on both tours, but is not considered official, as preferred lies were used for the last two rounds.
All week players had to deal with wet conditions from the rain and thunderstorms. The majority of the players were forced to play extra holes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to make up for lost time from the rain delays and suspensions.
Wiratchant’s victory netted him $1 million (US $166,660). It was his fifth Asian Tour victory and his first on the European Tour.
Jacquelin got to within one stroke of Wiratchant on the 11th hole, but had to settle for his career fourth second-place finish after a closing 65. Australian Adam Fraser had a hole-in-one in his final round to shot a 62 and finish in third place.
Montgomerie sat tied for 30th and 10 off the pace prior to the last round. Monty set a new birdie record and shared his fourth place finish with Filipino Frankie Minoza who finished with a 66.
Other notables include, Jaidee, the reigning Asian Tour number one. He closed with a 69 to tie for 11th with Irishman Paul McGinley and Singapore’s Mardan Mamat.
Pos Player R1 R2 R3 R4 Tot 1 Thaworn Wiratchant 63 63 66 63 -25 2 Raphael Jacquelin 64 67 64 65 -20 3 Adam Fraser 66 65 68 62 -19 4 Frankie Minoza 67 67 62 66 -18 4 Colin Montgomerie 67 69 66 60 -18 6 Eiji Mizoguchi 64 69 64 66 -17 7 Marcus Both 67 69 66 63 -16 7 Ariel Canete 69 68 63 65 -16 7 Gary Simpson 67 67 64 67 -16 7 Chris Williams 63 68 66 68 -16
Photo Credit: © Ian Walton, Getty Images