Blue Canyon Open: Thailand’s Prakongvech wins maiden Asian Development Tour

Prakongvech’s closing four under 68 saw him finish the ‘Beautiful Thailand Swing’ (BTS) decider at - 12, clear of a five-way tie for second featuring countrymen Chonlatit Chuenboonngam (65), Piya Sawangarunporn (67) and Witchayapat Sinsrang (68), Frenchman Victor Rui (71) and overnight co-leader Dodge Kemmer (72) of America.

DGC Open

It comes after the World No. 385 won the second of his thus far three All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT) titles, the Singha All Thailand Championship, on the Canyon course last September.

He flew into Phuket fresh from a T-19 finish at the 41st GS Caltex Maekyung Open in Seoul and before that a career-best third-place finish at the DGC Open in India.

That US$31,5000 payday in Delhi makes up the baulk of the $39,421 that currently sees him feature 29th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Dubai based MENA Tour player and ADT affiliate Joshua Grenville-Wood was making a serious title charge in the penultimate group, arriving at the 17th hole at five-under for the day and in the lead at - 13 overall. But the young Englishman sadly found water to the right of the par 3, 17th, settled for a double from the drop zone and then dropped another stroke on the last to sign for a 70 and a hard to accept share of seventh place.

Abu Dhabi based Luke Joy (Eng) shot a final round 71, to finish 21st overall.

Englishman Tom Sloman, who won the BTS’s opening Laguna Phuket Challenge, clinched the MENA Tour’s 2020+ Journey to Jordan Order of Merit despite missing the cut in the Blue Canyon Open, along with second-placed David Langley.

Top four finish

Countryman David Hague had a chance to snatch the title with a top four finish on Friday but struggled with his putter and had to settle for a 17th place. The $879.38 Hague won meant he moved up to $26,053 for the season and remained third overall behind Sloman ($28,870) and Langley ($27,557).

Sloman earns a start in one of the Asian Tour’s upcoming International Series events for his victory while the top 10 in the final J2J OOM earn invites to the next two ADT events (the June 7-10 OB Golf Invitational at Damai Indah Golf BSD and the June 15-18 Indo Masters Golf Invitational presented by TNE at Imperial Klub Golf), plus exemption to the final stage of the 2023 Asian Tour Q-School.