Chinese No.1 Liang Wen-chong pipped Malaysia's Iain Steel in a play-off yesterday to win the Singapore Masters and chalk a rare Asian victory on the European Tour.
Liang became only the second Chinese player to win a European sanctioned tournament after Zhang Liangwei took the title in Singapore in 2003. It secures him the right to play in all European Tour events until the end of 2009.
Half a dozen players were in contention with four holes to play and they all felt the pressure, with bogeys and double bogeys littering the scorecard as the lead chopped and changed.
PHOTO: EPA
The par 16th hole created all sorts of problems and it was a case of who threw away the tournament rather than who won it.
In the end Steel made the clubhouse at 11 under par and Liang sank a nervy four-foot putt for a par on the 18th to take it to a play-off.
Steel, who has a Scottish father and a Malaysian mother, put his drive into the water on the first extra hole while Liang hit the fairway and putted out, punching the air after the biggest win of his career.
England's Simon Dyson fired a final round 71 to end one off the pace.
Four other players were a shot further back, including England's Nick Dougherty who won the tournament in 2005 and was runner-up last year.
"I double bogeyed the 15th hole which is usually easy and I wasn't expecting that, but I was very happy with the way I came back on the final few holes," said Liang, who announced he would donate his US$183,000 winners' cheque to help develop golf in China.
"I haven't decided how exactly I'm going to use it but I will donate all of it," the 29-year-old said.
"I'm very happy to be the second Chinese after Zhang to win on the European Tour and I hope that we set an example so future generations of Chinese can follow in our footsteps," he said.
Liang, who spent his childhood in Zhongshan, the home of China's first golf course in the 1980s, has played most of his career on the Asian and Japan Tours but said he would now consider heading to Europe.
"I didn't expect to win so I haven't thought much about the European Tour, but I'll definitely be thinking about it now," he said.
Steel, who spent several years playing in the US and Canada before switching to the Asian Tour last year, said he was disappointed but had learned from the experience.
"I was quite confident and had a picture in my mind off the tee in the play-off. But I just didn't execute, simple as that," said the 35-year-old.
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