THAWORN WINS HERO INDIAN OPEN WITH FINAL ROUND HEROICS; KAPUR BEST INDIAN AT FOURTH
Bengaluru, India, October 21:
Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand pulled off a sensational win in the
play-off and won his third Asian Tour title this season at the Hero
Indian Open by defeating Richie Ramsay of Scotland on the first play-off
hole on Sunday at the KGA, which was teeming with excellent gallery.
It was the fourth play-off at the Indian since 2000, when
Jyoti Randhawa beat Sammy Daniels at Classic Golf resort Gurgaon and
then in 2006 Randhawa beat SSP Chowrasia and Vijay Kumar in Delhi Golf
Club and in 2009, C Muniyappa beat Lee Sung at DLF.
Shiv Kapur was the best Indian golfer as he shot a 66 for fourth place on 272.
Anirban
Lahiri of India, a two-time Asian Tour winner, Arnond Vongvanij of
Thailand and Jaakko Makitalo of Finland were a further two shots back in
fifth place.
Kapur, who has four top-five finishes on the Asian Tour
this season, was delighted to continue his solid form where he posted a
flawless round highlighted by five birdies.
“I’m happy but not satisfied. I just wanted to go out
there and shoot my heart out. This is my national open and Hero is my
sponsor. Obviously I would have liked to win but fourth is not bad. My
streak of top-five continues,” said Kapur.
Thaworn, who was playing one flight in front of Ramsay,
birdied the last hole in regulation play when his seven iron approach
shot landed about one feet from the hole as he closed with
five-under-par 66 at the approximately US$1.25 million Asian Tour event.
Overnight leader Ramsay needed a par putt on the last to
win but made a three-putt bogey for a 68 as the duo returned to the par
four 18th hole at the Karnataka Golf Association course.
On a day filled with drama, Ramsay blasted his tee shot
into a watery creek and was penalized. His third shot landed in the back
of the green and he chipped to about 10 feet past the hole as he
two-putted for double bogey.
Meanwhile Thaworn, who won the Hero Indian Open in 2005,
made a two putt bogey for the win after hitting his second shot into the
greenside bunker. He was stunned by his victory, which propelled him to
the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to win with the way I was
driving the ball this week. It means a lot that I’ve won a second Hero
Indian Open title and that I’m now leading the Asian Tour Order of
Merit,” said Thaworn, who totalled 14-under-par 270 and won US$198,125.
Thaworn, who was two shots off the lead at the start of
the day, struggled with his driver but rallied with acute iron play and a
sharp short game in a round of six birdies against one bogey.
“I think I only found two fairways in regulation and I
didn’t see where Richie was on the 18th hole until the crowd started
shouting. It was a huge surprise to me but I’m glad I won,” he smiled.
Ramsay, who was playing on a sponsor’s invitation, tipped
his to Thaworn but rued an unlucky break in the play-off as his
remarkable third shot, which he hit over the trees, landed in a pitch
mark just after the green.
“I stayed committed to every shot but Thaworn played
good. It was mine to win and a very strange thing happened on the last
because I’ve been excellent under pressure the whole week,” said Ramsay.
“I had a great third shot in the play-off which landed at
the back of the green. If there was a good lie, I would have fancied
knocking that in. I could have gotten a very easy up-and-down but it was
lying in a bad pitch mark. Some days, things just don’t go your way,”
he added.
Thai rising star Panuphol Pittayarat bogeyed the last hole to finish one shot from the play-off.
The
Hillsborough Stadium crush of 1989 (“Hillsborough Crush”) is a key
moment in the history of sports arena construction and crowd
management, as it led to the removal of standing terraces in all first
division and second division football club stadiums and adoption of
sound crowd management practices, through a reduction in capacity of all
stadium terraces by 15% and the prohibition of the practice of free
seating for ticket holders. 
