Last ditch putt brings win for Pena in Malaysia
Last ditch putt brings win for Pena in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): American Christian Pena sank a five feet putt with pressure mounting on the last hole to beat Taiwan's Hsieh Yu-shu to the Masters of Malaysia title here yesterday.
Pena saved his par and carded a three-under-par 69 for an aggregate 12-under-par 276 to beat Hsieh by a stroke in the Asian PGA event at Kelab Golf Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah.
Leading by a stroke going into the 393-yard par-four last hole, Pena hit his seven iron approach short of the green while the Taiwanese hit his second to 15 feet.
Pena chipped up to the hole and then waited anxiously as Hsieh played his putt, which came up four feet short. Hsieh holed out leaving Pena with a putt for victory, worth US$32,300.
"It was such a relief to hole the putt. Hsieh, Simon (Yates) and I had such battle all day. My mind was racing all the way round."
The crucial hole was the par-three 17th where Pena hit a six iron to ten feet and holed the putt to give him a one stroke advantage.
Pena and Hsieh had started the day a stroke behind Scotland's Simon Yates but at the turn Hsieh led by one from Pena and two from Yates.
Yates played steadily for much of the round but was unable to fire the 69 which, as he predicted, would have won him the title. He eventually carded a 73.
Pena's previous best performance this year on Tour had been joint seventh in the Ta Shee Open last week in Taiwan. That had been his only top ten finish on Tour this year.
South African Craig Kamps finished third on 10 under par after a 69. In joint fourth place with Yates was Korean Kwon Young-suk, who made a 68.
Results: 276 - Christian Pena (USA) 69-70-68-69 277 - Hsieh Yu-shu (Tpe) 72-65-70-70 278 - Craig Kamps (Rsa) 70-71-68-69 279 - Kwon Young-suk (Kor) 71-71-69-68, Simon Yates (Sco) 70-67- 69-73 281 - Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 72-70-69-70 282 - Lai Ying-juh (Tpe) 73-71-71-67, Chang Tse-peng (Tpe) 74-69- 69-70, Vivek Bhandari (Ind) 73-69-70-70 283 - Park Nam-sin (Kor) 73-71-72-67, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 71- 70-71-71 284 - Rafael Ponce (Ecu) 70-75-70-69, Ramon Brobio (Phi) 72-70-72-70, Thammanoon Sriroj (Tha) 73-67-72-72 285 - Yeh Wei-tze (Tpe) 73-70-74-68 286 - Kenny Walker (Sco) 73-74-70-69, Mo Joong-kyung (Kor) 73-70- 73-70, Eric Meeks (USA) 73-73-70-70, Hsu Mong-nan (Tpe) 70- 71-73-72, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 72-73-68-73, Dino Kwek (Sin) 71-68-73-74 288 - Soe Kyaw Naing (Mya) 72-73-73-70, Zhang Lianwei (Chn) 72-73-67-76 289 - Shaifubari Muda (Mas) 76-71-73-69, P. Gunasegaran (Mas) 70- 74-74-71, Marciano Pucay (Phi) 72-74-70-73, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68-72-76-73, Greg Hanrahan (USA) 71-72-72-74, Danny Zarate (Phi) 73-68-71-77 290 - Kang Wook-soon (Kor) 72-77-72-69