Phachara comes up big, takes E San Open crown

The Songkhlaborn golfer bounced back from an opening bogey to shoot four straight birdies from holes No 4 to 7 and added three more on holes 11, 15 and 18 against two bogeys on the ninth and 13 to sign off with an overall 13underpar 275. The 17yearold has so far won three Singha All Thailand Golf Tour titles (2014 Singha Panasonic in Hua Hin and 2015 Boonchu Ruangkit Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima) in his fledgling career.

“At the start of the tournament, I was trailing first round leader Chapchai by seven strokes. After that the weather changed dramatically with strong winds which made it tough for other players while I seemed to handle the conditions better,” said the teenager, who won the top prize of Bt450,000.

“After I bogeyed the first hole, I didn’t expect to end this way. But after I hit four birdies, I knew I had a chance and kept checking the scoreboard. I’m the type of player, who likes to keep an eye on the score. I knew what kind of game I needed to play to stay in contention,” said the youngster, whose biggest mission this year is to play at the Royal Troon in Scotland after earning a slot in the British Open through the Thailand Golf Championship last year. “It’s my childhood dream to play at the Open. I don’t feel anything now but when the time comes I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have to prepare my body and focus on my chipping and hitting the ball at low trajectory for the tournament,” said the rising star.

Chapchai the midway leader rebounded from the third round 76 to shoot 68 for a fourday total of 11underpar 277 and the runnerup prize money of Bt277,500.

“Finishing runnerup was beyond my target because I never played well on this course. If I had kept the score a bit low on Saturday, I would have had a chance in the final,” said Chapchai, whose title wins have dried up since 2013.

Overnight leader and hometown boy Thanyakorn Krongpha, who started the day with a oneshot advantage over Phachara, hit a 75 for 7under 281 to share the third place along with Panuphol 4over 292 for tied 22nd place, the highest position among amateurs, in the open category.