MANILA: Singapore’s Mardan Mamat overcame strong winds on Sunday (Nov 23) to secure a commanding six-shot win for his fourth Asian Tour victory at the Philippines’ Resorts World Manila Masters tournament.
“It means a lot to me,” said the 47-year-old veteran who fell to his knees, kissing the ground after tapping in for par at the last hole. “When I was on the range, the wind was pretty strong and I knew the scores won’t be low,” he said.
“Walking up on the 18th hole… anything can still happen. I knew I had a six-shot lead and I didn’t want to make any stupid mistakes and just kept the ball in play. I didn’t feel comfortable until after I hit my second shot,” he recalled.
The winner of the 2004 Indian Open, 2006 Singapore Masters and the 2012 Philippine Open ends a two-year title drought with this victory. Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat initially looked to overtake the Singaporean, but the wind caused his second shot on the fourth hole to go into the hazard.
“I thought I would use a five-wood to hit it on the fourth hole. If it gets into the bunker, I will just get up and down there for a birdie. But with the windy condition today, I couldn’t strike it good,” the 25-year-old said, as he closed with a three-over-par 75 to finish tied for fourth.
Leading scores after the fourth round at the par-72 Manila Southwoods course:
268 – Mardan Mamat (SIN) 65-68-66-69
274 – Lionel Weber (FRA) 70-70-64-70
276 – Prom Meeswat (THA) 73-72-63-68
278 – Sam Brazel (AUS) 67-75-67-69, Hung Chien-yao (TPE) 67-71-69-71, Paul Peterson (USA) 68-70-69-75, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 66-69-68-75
279 – Nicholas Fung (MAS) 69-69-68-73
280 – Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 75-70-68-67, Akinori Tan (JPN) 72-69-70-69, Scott Hend (AUS) 73-69-69-69, Wang Jeung-hun (KOR) 68-65-77-70, Chiragh Kumar (IND) 72-71-67-70, Thitiphun Chuayprakong (THA) 71-68-70-71, Arie Irawan (MAS) 71-71-67-71, Danny Chia (MAS) 66-71-71-72, Daisuke Kataoka (JPN) 65-73-70-72, Jbe Kruger (RSA) 70-73-64-73, Berry Henson (USA) 74-68-64-74
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
