Thai clinches Malarayat leg by 3 strokes

LIPA CITY—Sattaya Supupramai wrote a Cinderella finish to his first Asean Development Tour event yesterday by topping the ICTSI Malarayat Classic with a closing  5-under-par 67 and beating local boy Antonio Lascuña by three shots.

The young pro from Bangkok eagled the par-5 ninth for the second straight day to break free from what was billed as a one-on-one match with Lascuña and cop the $10,500 top purse with an eye-popping 21-under 267 tally over the Malipunyo and Lobo nines here.

“Being five (shots) down in the first round, I didn’t expect to win,” Supupramai said. He blew into contention by shooting a 64 on Friday and picked up from where he left off to thwart Lascuña in the final round.

Lascuña started the day tied for the lead with the Thai but couldn’t keep up with Supupramai’s scoring binge and settled for second after a 70.

Angelo Que checked in third, six shots off the Thai after firing a 69.

Teen prodigy Miguel Tabuena signed for a front side 31 and a 64 total and vaulted from out of nowhere to claim solo fourth, two shots behind Que.

Deposed champion Elmer Salvador shot a 66 to tie four others at 276.

“I didn’t have a good putting stint in the back nine for the second straight day,” rued the 44-year-old Lascuña, who had just a birdie and a bogey in the final nine holes.

Lascuña fell two shots down for the first time after a bogey on the fifth, before picking up shots on Nos. 6 and 8 to come within one.

Just one-up on Lascuña going into the ninth—a downhill par-5 that the field has attacked all week—Supupramai hit a beautiful 6-iron from 190 yards out to within two feet of the cup for the telling eagle that left the Filipino two off despite a birdie.

Supupramai also erased the bitter memories of a final round collapse in the Solaire Open earlier this year, when he was well inside the top 10 going into the final 18 holes at Wack Wack East only to close out with an 83 and finish joint 61st.

Anthony Fernando fired a 70 for 277 and shared ninth spot with Americans James Bowen and Greg Moss, who shot  66 and 70, respectively. Australia’s David Lutterus carded a 71 and Englishman Ian Keenan returned a  72 to finish in Fernando’s group. Each of them received $1,146.

The other backers of the event were Nike Golf, Srixon, Custom Clubmakers, Pacsports, Cleveland Golf, Callaway, Ping, Mizuno, Empire Golf and Sports Shop, FootJoy, Titleist, Sharp and BMW with Balls, Studio 23, Pinoygolfer.com and Inquirer Golf as media partners.