Port Dickson, Malaysia: Lim Eng Seng trumped fellow-Malaysian Sukree Othman at the third hole of a thrilling play-off to win the PGM-ASEAN PGA Port Dickson Championship.
The 32-year-old Lim, a prolific winner at amateur level, birdied the 18th for the second time in the play-off to lift his first ASEAN PGA Tour title.
Lim, three shots behind overnight, burst out of the pack with two birdies in the final three holes for a closing 67 to set the clubhouse target of eight-under-par 276 at Port Dickson Golf and Country Club.
Sukree, an experienced campaigner who shared the lead going into the final round of the PGM-ASEAN PGA Melaka Championship in March before slipping down the leaderboard with a 76, took the tournament into extra holes thanks to a final round 69 that included key birdies at the 14th and 16th holes.
Both players birdied the first play-off hole and parred the second before Lim broke the deadlock with a birdie to Sukree’s par at the third extra hole.
Unheralded Thai Natthapong Niyomchon, who put himself in contention with a 65 on Friday, held the lead after three straight birdies from the ninth but a bogey at the penultimate hole saw him card a 69 and miss the play-off by one shot.
He finished equal third with Malaysia’s Azman Basharudin who bounced back from a bogey at the first with five birdies, including three in the closing four holes, for a fine 67.
Malaysian Kenneth De Silva, one shot ahead overnight, made a nightmarish start with bogeys at the first and third holes and did not register a birdie until the last. He carded a 72 and finished in joint fifth place with Thailand’s Pipatpong Naewsuk (70).
Thai Phachara Khongwatmai, who won last year’s Singha Hua Hin Open as a 14-year-old amateur, saved his best for last with a closing seven-under-par 64 catapulting him up to 12th place.
