BLACK MOUNTAIN MASTERS RELATED STORIES Black Mountain Masters home page Black Mountain Masters Preview Round 1: Edfors fires course record to lead by two Round 2: Edfors stretches lead with Minoza in pursuit Round 3: Edfors maintains lead but cut to two Round 4: Edfors wins wire-to-wire as Prayad surges Final Scores & Prize Money About the course Six to watch this week Parnevik leads strong Scandinavian challenge Prom looks to Dad to help him make a splash Prayad has two Masters objectives Thongchai still motivated to climb more mountains Strong support for Black Montain Masters Full details of the Black Mountain Golf Club Asian Tour Order of Merit after the Black Mountain Masters MORE ASIAN GOLF NEWS Allenby claims fourth PGA title Development Tour announced for 2010 Chan wins King's Cup in playoff Scott lands first Australian Open 'Best year of my life' - Thongchai Last chance for Tour Card hopefuls

Edfors goes wire-to-wire for two-shot win as Prayad surges into second

Sweden’s Johan Edfors endured some heart-stopping moments before completing a wire-to-wire victory at the Black Mountain Masters on Sunday.

Big-hitting Edfors fired a four-under-par 68 in the final round at the Black Mountain Golf Club to triumph by two shots over Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng and England’s Chris Rodgers in the inaugural US$500,000 Asian Tour event.

Prayad charged up the leaderboard with a superb 64 and gave himself every chance of retaining his 50th place on the world rankings and earn a ticket to the US Masters in two weeks time. He will need to wait until the completion of the tournaments in Europe and United States later on Sunday to know his fate.

Indian rookie Anirban Lahiri produced an eye-catching 68 for fourth place after fighting for the lead down the straight while countryman Gaganjeet Bhullar broke the course record with a stunning 63 to finish tied fifth alongside Thai duo Chapchai Nirat (67) and Thongchai Jaidee (68).

It was a timely victory for Edfors, who had not won a title following his bumper 2006 season where he triumphed three times on the European Tour. But victory, thanks to his four-day total of 17-under-par 271, was hard earned although he had led from the first round.

“I guess I made it too exciting. I wasn’t planning on doing that,” smiled Edfors. “I made a couple of poor shots and bad decisions and then had to really fight for it at the end.”

Edfors was in control until an errant drive which landed next to a tree led to a double bogey on 16 and dropped him into a tie for the lead. But cheered on by a partisan Swedish crowd in the coastal resort town of Hua Hin, he bounced back with a 10-foot birdie on 16 to regain a one-shot lead and then wrapped up formalities with another birdie on 18 from 15 feet to earn the winner’s cheque of US$79,250.

“I knew that the last three holes, I could shoot low. No one had made a charge except for Prayad who played a fantastic round. I knew I had it in my hands and knew that I needed to perform in the last few holes,” said Edfors.

“This is one of the nicest wins of my career as I’ve not had so many Swedes supporting me during my other wins.”

Smooth-swinging Prayad was in brilliant form to finish tied second on 273 but will now endure an anxious wait until Monday before knowing his fate for the Masters. The Thai star said his youngest son had told him at the start of the final day to shoot an eight-under round while his ailing mother was also upset that he had not played well all week in his hometown.

“My youngest boy told me to shoot an eight under and I’m glad I did it. I also visited my mother this morning and she asked me how come I was only a few under par,” said Prayad, a six-time winner on the Asian Tour.

“The putting made the difference in the last two days. I put in a new putter in the bag and did not go the range and just practiced on the putting greens before my round. I’m glad it paid off but I’ll now have to wait to know if I will qualify for the Masters through the world rankings.”

Rodgers stayed hard on Edfors’ heels but missed chances down the stretch to push the winner down the line. “I gave it my all. I picked a couple of wrong lines and lost a bit of momentum. The killer for me was not making birdie on 16 when Johan made double. That was the moment for me to seize but I didn’t,” said the Englishman.

The 20-year-old Lahiri was delighted to post his best finish after staying in contention throughout the back nine with a gutsy performance. “I had a chance going into the last three holes. But I blew it on 16 when I three putted for bogey. I had a good yardage but overcooked it. I guess it was the adrenaline.

“I’m quite happy with the way I played. It was the first time I was playing while being in contention. Given the circumstances and given that this was only my 14th or 15th event on the Asian Tour, I’m happy with how I performed,” said Lahiri.

Leading final round scores (click here for full leaderboard and prize money):

271 - Johan Edfors (SWE) 64-68-71-68
273 - Prayad Marksaeng (THA) 70-72-67-64, Chris Rodgers (ENG) 70-68-67-68
274 - Anirban Lahiri (IND) 69-70-67-68
275 - Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 71-71-70-63, Chapchai Nirat (THA) 69-68-71-67, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 71-69-67-68
277 - Darren Beck (AUS) 69-66-75-67, John Parry (ENG) 74-69-66-68, Angelo Que (PHI) 68-73-67-69, Noh Seung-yul (KOR) 66-71-70-70, Lu Wei-chih (TPE) 71-71-66-69, Peter Cooke (AUS) 67-70-70-70, Jason King (AUS) 68-68-69-72
278 - Will Yanagisawa (USA) 70-71-71-66, Prom Meesawat (THA) 70-69-72-67, Andrew Dodt (AUS) 71-72-68-67, Frankie Minoza (PHI) 67-68-75-68, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 69-69-71-69, Keith Horne (RSA) 68-71-68-71

March 29, 2009