Sanya, China, March 20: England’s Paul Casey survived a sudden-death play-off against Paul McGinley this afternoon, capping a thrilling final day with victory at the US$1 million TCL Classic at Yalong Bay Golf Club on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
On another day of spectacular scoring at the Robert Trent Jones Jr-designed layout, the Englishman holed a 25-foot birdie putt at the second extra hole to secure victory at an event joint-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tours.
The pair of Pauls finished tied at 22-under 266 after 72 holes, one shot ahead of Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, Chawalit Plaphol of Thailand and Korean Kang Wook-soon in joint third, with Colin Montgomerie a further stroke adrift in outright sixth.
After having putts for the win at both the last hole of regulation play and the first play-off hole, the 27-year-old Casey found the heart of the cup with this third attempt and punched the air in delight. He takes home a cheque for US$166,660 and a ceremonial sword from the local Hainanese Li tribe for his efforts.
“It was nice to be in the final group. I knew Paul was playing very, very well and had finished at 22-under when I was coming down 16. I knew what I had to do and it was nice to be in that position. I also like chasing scores and I think I am good at chasing,” he said.
It was a welcome breakthrough for Casey, who – despite team victories at the Ryder Cup and World Cup last year – has a firmly stated goal of more individual triumphs in 2005. The last of his three European Tour victories prior to this week came at the 2003 Benson & Hedges International Open.
“It is very satisfying to have won again. I feel like I put in a lot of work in the off-season and it is also nice after having a back injury earlier in the year to come out play some decent golf. In fact, I played some very good golf.
“It was great to cap it off the way I did, especially after having a chance on 18 and leaving it short. To finish it off on the second play-off hole was very, very nice,” said the champion, who heads to the United States tonight to contest The Players Championship.
Twice a member of victorious European Ryder Cup teams, McGinley was in vintage form at Yalong Bay, going out in four-under 32 before scorching to five consecutive birdies on the back nine.
Only the edge of the cup prevented the Irishman making it six on the trot at the 18th, but his nine-under 63 was still enough for the Irishman to have a shot at his first victory since the 2001 Celtic Manor Wales Open.
“It is really disappointing to shoot 63 in the last round and lose. I gave it my best shot, but it wasn’t meant to be. I hit the edge of the hole on the last as well, which would have given me six birdies in a row to win. Perhaps it was just Paul’s turn.”
McGinley’s back-nine birdie binge was beaten for drama only by Bjorn. After a quadruple-bogey seven on the third virtually ruled the Dane out of contention, he notched three birdies and an eagle from the 11th to 14th holes to roar back into the frame. In the end, though, even with additional birdies at 16 and 18 for an inward nine of seven-under 29, he was forced to settle for equal third alongside Kang and Chawalit.
For the leading Asian pair, it was a day of missed opportunities. For Chawalit, balls into the water off the tee on the second and seventh holes put paid to his chances. “I just had the same plan as each day. Keep it on the fairways and greens and see what happened, so I am very happy to have fought back from the front nine.
“I chipped and putted very well, but I just wasn’t hungry enough for victory today. Overall, though I am happy,” said the Thai, who heads east this week for his first event on the Japan Golf Tour for 2005.
Montgomerie, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on his bid to finish in the top two places in Sanya – a result that would have, depending on other international results, almost certainly pushed him into the top 50 places on the Official World Golf Ranking and on the verge of an invite to next month’s US Masters.
The TCL Classic winner in 2002, the last staging of the event, will head to the Enjoy Jakarta Standard Chartered Indonesia Open next week at Cengkareng Golf Club, with one last chance to play his way into the field at Augusta National.
Zhang Lian-wei secured the honour of finishing as the leading mainland Chinese player at tied 41st, with Liang Wen-Chong (T48), Zhang Wen-gen (T60), Li Chao (T65) and Shang Lei (T69) the others to make the cut.
ABOUT THE EVENT: The joint-sanctioned TCL Classic is the 12th event on the 2005 European Tour International Schedule and the seventh tournament for the Asian Tour this year. The US$1 million championship, title-sponsored by China’s leading communications and electronics firm, is being contested at Yalong Bay Golf Club, located on the Chinese island of Hainan.
For further information, contact Tan Kheng Im at the tournament media centre on +86-898 8856-6187 or tclclassic.sohu.com. Please note Sanya is on the same time zone as Hong Kong and Singapore and is eight hours ahead of London.
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