Charlie coasts to three-stroke victory in Taiwan

TAIPEI: Korea's Charlie Wi coasted to a three-stroke victory in the US$300,000 Taiwan Open yesterday after a four-under-par 68 in the final round completed his remarkable turnaround in the tournament. 

Wi, who opened his tournament with a pair of 76s before moving into contention by matching the course-record 64 on Saturday, finished well ahead of Australian Terry Pilkadaris, who closed with a 72, at the North Bay Golf and Country Club. 

Overnight co-leaders Gaurav Ghei of India and Chinese Taipei's Lin Chie-hsiang slumped to joint third and equal fifth respectively after rounds of 74 and 75. 

It was Wi's sixth career title in Asia but his first since 2002. Victory came as a relief following several near misses this season, notably in the SK Telecom Open on home soil where he had led into the final round before finishing second. 

“I'm happy to win again,” said Wi, who totalled four-under-par 284 for the tournament. “I feel really lucky and I still don't know what the difference was for me at the weekend. 

“Like in yesterday's round, I putted really solidly today and holed some nice putts,” added the Korean, whose winner's cheque of US$50,000 swelled his season's prize money to US$160,608. 

Starting the day two behind Ghei and Lin, Wi began strongly with birdies on the second and fourth holes and tied Ghei for the lead when the Indian dropped a bogey on the sixth. 

When the 32-year-old Wi birdied the eighth and 10th, which Ghei bogeyed, the methodical Korean was well on the way to victory. He dropped his only shot of the day on the 15th hole but made up with a birdie on 17. 

Local hope Lin, bidding for his third Taiwan Open crown, opened with two successive bogeys before bouncing back with three birdies on the sixth, seventh and 11th holes as he battled gamely.  

But a poor finish of four bogeys in his last six holes dashed his hopes of victory. 

Pilkadaris secured his best ever finish on the Asian Tour and earned a runner-up cheque of US$33,090. This comes two weeks after his fourth place outing in the Kolon Korean Open. 

Chang Tse-peng, a distant cousin of former tennis star Michael Chang, enjoyed his best outing on the Asian Tour this season by sharing third place with Ghei after a strong finish with a 68. 

Hsieh Min-nan, Asia's winning captain in the inaugural Dynasty Cup against Japan last year, kept his goal of finishing inside the top-10, ending joint ninth after a final round 73. – AFP