Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong prevailed in the Mandiri Indonesia Open after a gripping finish at Pondok Indah Golf Course.
Having started the day with a comfortable five-shot margin, he was pushed all the way to the finish line, closing with an even-par 72, for an 18-under-par total, and a two-stroke triumph over Australian Scott Hend, Steve Lewton from England and Chinese-Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po, who all carded 68s.
Hend, chasing his 11th win on the Asian Tour and first in four years, came closest to catching him but, playing in the group ahead, hit his tee shot on the par-five 18th out of bounds and made a costly double bogey.
Third Asian Tour title
Nitithorn dropped shots on 12 and 13 but was able to par home to secure his third Asian Tour title and put behind him a poor first half to the season, when he was shadow of the player who recorded two breakthrough victories last year, in The DGC Open presented by Mastercard and the International Series Singapore.
“Wow, amazing! Like, I feel so happy about this win you know. Back the last few weeks I didn’t feel confidence like this, but after I played some rounds before, I came here and I just figured out my swing, got some good feelings and transferred to this tournament.
“Like I said the past few weeks, I was like how to hit, even how to impact the ball very well, I really struggled on my swing. But right now, I feel better, amazing!”
Nitithorn had not finished in the top-10 in nine starts this year until this week and had failed to progress to the weekend four times.
“I didn’t think I was going to win this year to be honest, but I just planned to be just keep doing my best,” he said.
“My caddie lost my towel!”
“I was really excited when I finished hole number nine, and on hole number 10, this is funny, my caddie lost my towel and I just freaked out a little bit.”
He earned a cheque for US$90,000 and moved into 11th place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Korean Yongjun Bae tied for fifth after breaking the course record with a brilliant 63, with ten birdies and one dropped shot; four of those birdies came in the last four holes.
He finished the event on 14 under with compatriot Mingyu Cho (66), Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert (65) and Chang Wei-lun (71) from Chinese-Taipei.
The next stop on the Asian Tour is the International Series England at Close House, in Newcastle, from 17-20 August.
