Dhaka: Young Thai talent Sadom Kaewkanjana became the fastest qualifying school graduate to win on the Asian Tour after surviving a nail-biting finish to clinch the US$350,000 Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open by one shot yesterday.
Sadom, playing in his first Asian Tour start this season, extended his overnight two-shot lead to four with two opening birdies but had to fend off the spirited challenge from India's Ajeetesh Sandhu after making three consecutive bogeys from hole 13 to blow the title race wide open.
The 20-year-old, however, fought back gallantly with successive birdies on 16 and 17 to give himself a one-shot advantage over Sandhu, who dropped his first bogey in 63 holes on the par-five 17, heading into the last at the Kurmitola Golf Club.
After hitting a wayward tee shot towards the tree on the left of the par-four 18 fairway, Sadom chipped it back to the middle before hitting to about eight feet.
He would eventually nail that par putt to close with a one-under-par 70 and a winning total of 19-under-par 265, one ahead of Sandhu.
Sadom, who joined the play-for-pay ranks last December, was thrilled to produce a dramatic turnaround in the closing stage to claim his first Asian Tour victory and a second win as a professional after breaking through on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) in February.
With this win, he also becomes the third Thai after Thitiphun Chuayprakong (2016) and Jazz Janewattananond (2017) to win the national Open of Bangladesh.
Sadom got US$63,000 in prize money and received 14 world ranking points.
"I am feeling very happy for winning in my first start on the Asian Tour. I will take a lot of positives from this week and this win will give me a lot of confidence in my game as well. It's been an unbelievable journey since turning professional in December," Sadom said.
"My initial goal was just to keep my Asian Tour card for the next season but now I have won on both the Asian Development Tour and the Asian Tour, I am really happy. I finished second here in an amateur event four years ago. It's good to come back and won as a professional.
"My putter went cold after the first three holes but thankfully I got it back in my closing three holes. I wasn't feeling the nerves actually. I was just thinking about making birdies, especially after dropping three bogeys in a row. I told myself I need to make birdies to get it back. I am glad I did it."
