Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat quickly gained the upper hand against Robert Karlsson in the final of the inaugural Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay on Sunday.
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Four birdies in five holes around the turn gave Karlsson a seemingly decisive three-hole lead with six to play, but he bogeyed the 13th and then saw Howell hole an extraordinary long birdie putt with 10 feet of break on the 16th.
Aphibarnrat birdied the final hole to fend off an inspired fightback from Karlsson who won three holes in a row to send the pair down the 18th fairway locked together.
And, after the Swede dragged his birdie attempt wide, his opponent holed from four feet for victory and the first prize of £122,000.
“The next step was to win in Europe, I’m happy and proud of myself”, said Aphibarnrat, whose previous wins came in Malaysia and China.
It was a third European tour title for Aphibarnrat, known as the Asian John Daly after the long-hitting American twice major champion, and his first outside his home continent.
Aphibarnrat reached the final after he defeated local favourite Marc Warren 3&2, while Karlsson progressed to the tournament finale following his 1up win over David Howell.
This article was from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. “I started pulling some drives but I have to say I putted very well today and sank a lot of important putts – especially the putt to win which was very short but it was great to see it hit the middle of the hole”.
Despite the defeat, Karlsson was pleased with his display.
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The Scotsman overcame a back problem and a three-hole deficit to beat England’s Tyrrell Hatton in a play-off. “But if you want me to go and play another nine, I will go and hit driver every hole”. “It’s maybe ten years since I played 36 holes in the one day and my body was getting a bit exhausted”, he revealed.
