Argentina’s Miguel Carballo prevailed on the first play-off hole to win his second Asian Development Tour (ADT) title in the final round of the Singha Laguna Phuket Open on Sunday.
Carballo entered the round four shots off the pace, but a birdie blitz led him to close with a six-under-par 64 and force a play-off with Joohyung Kim of Korea and Thailand’s Chinnarat Phadungsil at the award-winning Laguna Golf Phuket.
Kim and Chinnarat returned with rounds of 68 and 65 respectively to tie with Carballo on a 15-under-par 265 total at the end of regulation play at the THB 2,000,000 (approximately US$63,860) event co-sanctioned by the All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT).
The 40-year-old Carballo only needed one extra hole to edge out his competitors on the par-four 18th hole, after rolling in a crucial six-foot putt for birdie while Kim and Chinnarat settled for tied-second.
Carballo, the reigning ADT Order of Merit winner, dropped a shot on his first hole but recovered with a birdie on the second. He gained momentum towards the middle of the round with five straight birdies starting from the sixth hole and added an eagle on hole 14 that ensured his place in the play-off.
“I played solidly all four rounds and was hitting it good. All my birdie putts were either tap-ins or inside 10-feet and I gave myself a lot of chances. I made bogeys today on holes one and hole 18 which were the only two holes that I three-putted,” said Carballo, who dropped another shot on his way home.
Miguel Carballo with Ravi Chandran 2
The victory marked his second ADT title since he triumphed in a seven-hole play-off battle in Indonesia last August and became the first Argentinean to win on the region’s secondary circuit.
“I am very happy to win again. It is my second play-off victory on the ADT and it came at the right time because I was planning on going back to Argentina for a month after this. My goal now is to win on the Asian Tour,” added Carballo, who took home a prize purse of US$ 9,121 and six Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.
Mr Ravi Chardran, Managing Director of Laguna Golf Phuket, was pleased to welcome another worthy champion at the third edition of the Singha Laguna Phuket Open.
“Thanks to All Thailand Golf Tour and Asian Development Tour for bringing this event back to Laguna Phuket, following our recent award of “Best Sports Event Venue in Thailand” at SPIA Asia. With our long history of destination sporting events including the Marathon and Triathlon, this professional golf tournament is now another highlight on our annual calendar,”
“Although nobody walked away with Banyan Tree Group’s special USD10,000 hole-in-one prize, Argentina’s Miguel Carballo will get to stay at our flagship resort Banyan Tree Phuket as part of his winning prize,” added Mr Chardran.
Miguel Carballo Receiving the Champion’s Trophy from Ravi Chandran (MD o…
Leading final round scores:
265 – Miguel Carballo 65 68 68 64, Chinnarat Phadungsil 68 64 68 65, Joohyung Kim 65 65 67 68
267 – Hein Sithu 69 68 63 67
268 – Danny Masrin 63 69 67 69
269 – Itthipat Buranatanyarat 69 70 65 65, Sam Gillis 67 69 66 67, Pannakorn Uthaipas 70 66 64 69, Suradit Yongcharoenchai 68 66 64 71
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