Green upstages Thai, rules ADT Southwoods
CARMONA, Cavite – Gavin Green pulled through in a pressure-packed, stretch-run shootout with Donlaphatchai Niyomchon and edged the Thai ace and Singaporean Deng Shan Koh by two on a closing 65 to snare the ICTSI Manila Southwoods Championship ADT crown at the Legends course here yesterday.
It was a fitting ending to a tournament that lived up to its final round hype as wide open with a slew of names storming into and dropping off the lead on a birdie hit or bogey mishap until Green surged ahead on par-3 No. 16 – not on a birdie feat but on a Niyomchon double-bogey – before the 22-year-old Malaysian put the lock on the crown with gritty pars in the last three holes for a 16-under 278 total.
“It was a really interesting round. I played solid and Donlaphatchai was on my back from the start. But I stayed patient out there and I just kept hitting good shots and kept the ball in play,” said Green after nailing his second ADT win worth $10,500 following his breakthrough at the PGM Northport Glenmarie Championship last February.
“I think I handled myself really well and this win means a lot to me,” said Green, who will head to Japan for the Asian Tour next week, thus skipping the ICTSI Sherwood Hills Classic.
Green and Niyomchon, who started the final round three shots off erstwhile leader John Michael O’Toole of the US, gunned down four birdies at the front to wrest control as O’Toole fumbled with two early bogeys and two birdies for a 36 and the other frontrunners tumbled down one after the other with so-so starts.