DENWIT BORIBOONSUB completed a rare hat-trick of titles today when he recorded a three-shot win in the US$1million Saudi Open presented by Public Investment Fund today at Riyadh Golf Club.
The 19-year-old Thai, who won the Thailand Open on the All Thailand Golf Tour last week and the Aramco Invitational on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) the week before, shot a final round seven-under-par 64 for a four-round-aggregate of 18-under 266.
Sweden’s Henrik Stenson raced through with a 65 to secure second place while Travis Smyth from Australia was third after a 67 – in an event that brought to a conclusion the Asian Tour’s 23-event, US$35 million season.
Phachara Khongwatmai from Thailand, the overnight leader, signed off with a 70 and tied for fourth, five behind the champion, with his nation’s brilliant young amateur Ratchanon “TK” Chantananuwant, in with a 66, and Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma, who closed with a 67.
Denwit also has the distinction of becoming the first player to win the final events of the year on both the Asian Tour and ADT, as the Aramco Invitational was also the season-ender.
He started one back from Phachara today and dominated the final day. Three birdies in-a-row from the first and again from 11 were the mark of a player on top of his game. He made eight birdies in total and dropped just one shot.
At the turn he had a two-shot lead, which was the gap he had playing the last, where he closed with a birdie to put the icing on the cake.
He also made par saving clutch putts from eight feet on 15 and 17 to fend off his pursuers.
“It is an unbelievable feeling because it is incredible winning three weeks in a row. It is like magic!” said the Thai youngster who won US$180,000 and leapt into 21st place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit from 133rd.
“I was really confident before coming to this week because I just know my game. I hit my drives good, my irons and putting were also good, so my goal this week was to win. Fortunately, I made it.”
This is only Denwit’s 15th start on the Asian Tour, and he mirrors the performance of American Henson back in 2011 by winning on the Asian Tour a fortnight after claiming an ADT event.
Three weeks ago, on the eve of the Aramco Invitational, he was 30th on the ADT Merit list and facing an uncertain future before a lifechanging month of golf.
He said: “[At Aramco] I told my caddie that there is nothing to lose now. If we didn’t make this tournament we had to go to Q School but I just tried to play my best and hopefully just make top three but luckily I won it.”
2016 Open champion Stenson, playing in the third from last group out, made a valiant late run making four consecutive birdies from the 12th and another on 17 but he ran out of holes.
He said: “It’s been a good week here in Riyadh. It’s been my first trip to the capital, it’s been nice to see something else than Jeddah as well in that sense, where we played a lot of golf both the Saudi International and the LIV tournaments. So nice visit, a lot of friendly people. I came in with two months off, so it was a good opportunity for me to kind of see where we’re at and what needs to be worked more on when we start preparing for next year in the middle of January.”
The battle on the bubble to finish in the top-65 and secure Tour cards for 2024 as expected saw a close finish with those playing this week.
Kozuma made the biggest move from 76th to 53rd after his fine finish, Björn Hellgren from Sweden also made it through to next year after tying for 18th to go from 60th to 57th.
Koreans Yongjun Bae and Yeongsu Kim also managed to stay on the right side of the top-65 cut-off mark, moving from 63rd to 59th and 62nd to 61st respectively.
And South African Jbe Kruger who was in the 65th and final spot coming into the week moved up to 63rd after a tense weekend that saw him end in a tie for 18th.
Scores after round 4 of the Saudi Open presented by PIF being played at the par 71, 7246 Yards Riyadh Golf Club course (am - denotes amateur):
266 - Denwit Boriboonsub (THA) 68-66-68-64.
269 - Henrik Stenson (SWE) 70-67-67-65.
270 - Travis Smyth (AUS) 71-68-64-67.
271 - Ratchanon Chantananuwat (am, THA) 66-72-67-66, Jinichiro Kozuma (JPN) 69-68-67-67, Phachara Khongwatmai (THA) 68-66-67-70.
272 - Chang Wei-lun (TPE) 72-72-63-65, Chapchai Nirat (THA) 64-73-68-67, Seungtaek Lee (KOR) 68-69-68-67.
273 - Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 76-64-68-65, Todd Sinnott (AUS) 67-67-69-70.
274 - Joshua Grenville-Wood (UAE) 72-70-65-67, Kyongjun Moon (KOR) 71-70-65-68.
275 - Chanmin Jung (KOR) 67-71-70-67, Yongjun Bae (KOR) 72-68-68-67, Panuphol Pittayarat (THA) 68-67-72-68, William Harrold (ENG) 70-68-67-70.
276 - Jbe Kruger (RSA) 71-70-68-67, Tomoyo Ikemura (JPN) 70-68-69-69, Bjorn Hellgren (SWE) 69-67-70-70, James Piot (USA) 71-67-67-71, Veer Ahlawat (IND) 70-67-66-73.
277 - Hung Chien-yao (TPE) 71-72-67-67, Kieran Vincent (ZIM) 73-69-68-67, Douglas Klein (AUS) 69-69-70-69, Guntaek Koh (KOR) 71-71-66-69, Michael Maguire (USA) 74-70-68-65, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (IND) 71-67-69-70, Yeongsu Kim (KOR) 74-69-69-65, Wang Wei-hsuan (TPE) 71-69-65-72, Suradit Yongcharoenchai (THA) 69-70-65-73.
278 - Justin Quiban (PHI) 77-67-66-68, Kosuke Hamamoto (THA) 72-70-68-68, Yikeun Chang (KOR) 71-70-69-68, Bio Kim (KOR) 70-67-70-71, Ben Leong (MAS) 72-67-67-72, Natipong Srithong (THA) 73-71-70-64, Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 71-67-66-74.
279 - Andrew Dodt (AUS) 73-71-66-69, Ryosuke Kinoshita (JPN) 73-68-69-69, Rattanon Wannasrichan (THA) 70-71-68-70.
280 - Taehee Lee (KOR) 72-70-68-70, Itthipat Buranatanyarat (THA) 72-71-68-69, Gunn Charoenkul (THA) 68-70-70-72, Scott Hend (AUS) 73-69-66-72, Kevin Na (USA) 67-76-70-67, Jeremy Gandon (FRA) 76-68-70-66.
281 - Lloyd Jefferson Go (PHI) 75-69-67-70, Angelo Que (PHI) 70-72-69-70, Joel Stalter (FRA) 71-69-72-69, Tirawat Kaewsiribandit (THA) 68-74-74-65.
283 - Prom Meesawat (THA) 71-71-69-72, Berry Henson (USA) 71-71-70-71, Charng-Tai Sudsom (THA) 76-64-72-71, Ian Snyman (RSA) 74-68-71-70, Miguel Carballo (ARG) 71-73-70-69, Othman Raouzi (MOR) 70-72-73-68, Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 71-69-76-67.
284 - Pavit Tangkamolprasert (THA) 72-68-71-73, Nitithorn Thippong (THA) 69-68-76-71.
285 - Ervin Chang (MAS) 73-71-66-75, Matthew Cheung (HKG) 74-69-68-74, Steve Lewton (ENG) 69-72-70-74, Luis Carrera (MEX) 66-73-72-74.
286 - Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 73-70-74-69.
287 - Yoseop Seo (KOR) 73-67-72-75, Settee Prakongvech (THA) 70-74-73-70.
288 - Soufiane Dahmane (am, MOR) 73-69-75-71.
292 - Danthai Boonma (THA) 69-74-72-77.
296 - Saleh Alkaabi (am, QAT) 74-70-76-76.
