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Boonchu wins Champions Tour Q-school

Thai veteran Boonchu Ruangkit completed his wire-to-wire success despite a two-over-par 74 in the final round at the Champions Tour Qualifying School in United States on Saturday.

The 50-year-old fired two birdies against four bogeys and left Canadian Ray Stewart three strokes off the pace in second place after his second straight 69. Boonchu walked away with the top prize of US$28,500 after a winning total of 11-under-par 277 at the TPC Eagle Trace in Florida.

The steady Thai, who went into the final round with a five stroke advantage, bogeyed the second hole but was back on track with a birdie at the sixth. He dropped three shots at the 13th, 14th and 16th holes but ended the day with a birdie at the 17th.

The top-30 and ties booked their spots for the 2007 Champions Tour season.

Boonchu broke the deadlock in his third attempt at the Champions Tour Qualifying School. He was unable to make it past the first stage in last year’s qualifying. He made the cut at the regional in Beaumont, California this year where he finished joint eighth place and booked his place in the final.

Boonchu is a five-time winner on the Asian Tour and his second place finish on the Order of Merit back in 1995 was his best result to date. His most recent win was the 2004 Thailand Open as he enjoyed six top-10 finishes that included two runner-up positions.

After two consecutive 70s, Indian youngster Shiv Kapur stumbled to a 73 in joint 15th position at the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan. Korea’s latest star Yang Yong-eun shot a disappointing 74 and moved down to tied 47th place alongside Chinese Taipei’s Lin Keng-chi who carded a 72. Yang had previously won the HSBC Champions title in Shanghai last week. Korea’s Hur Suk-ho was 10 spots below after a 75 with a similar score by Yeh Wei-tze who was in tied 25th place.

Golf icon Tiger Woods, after carding a 72, was tied at the top of the leaderboard with Irishman Padraig Harrington who shot a 71 to a three-day total of six-under-par 204.

South African Keith Horne and India's Amandeep Johl failed to seal their European Tour cards in the European Tour Qualifying School Finals which concluded on Thursday. Horne finished 52nd on five-over-par 437 while Johl was a further stroke back. The top-35 players earned their cards for the 2007 season.

November 19, 2006