Thai teenager Danthai wins maiden Asian Tour title

Published 11/15/2015, 12:02 PM EST

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Thai teenager Danthai Boonma won his first Asian Tour title on Sunday by claiming the World Classic Championship by one shot following a final round two-under-par 69 at Laguna National.

The 19-year-old, who graduated from qualifying school in January after only turning professional last year, signed for a two-under total of 282 to beat Malaysia’s Nicholas Fung (72) by one.

“I’m so excited and happy that I’m now a champion on the Asian Tour,” said Danthai, a double Southeast Asian Games gold medallist in 2012.

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“I didn’t want to think too much about winning the tournament during my front nine especially after dropping a shot. But after making three birdies in four holes after the turn, I started to believe that this could be my week.”

Fung’s putting touch deserted him over the closing stretch. He three-putted for bogey five on 16 and missed with an effort on the last to force a playoff.

“The hole that cost me the title this week was the 16th hole where I missed a two-foot putt to save par,” he said.

The duo were the only ones to finish under par at the tough Laguna National course, which stepped in to host the $750,000 championship in September after Indonesia Open organisers asked for their event to be postponed.

(Reporting by Patrick Johnston; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.