Rookie dedicates victory to King

Arnond pips veteran Thaworn and Madan to win the King's Cup by two strokes

Asian Tour rookie Arnond Vongvanij came out of nowhere to beat the highly experienced Thaworn Wiratchant and Madan Mamat by two strokes to claim the King's Cup at the Singha Park Khon Kaen Golf Club yesterday.

On a day that saw a tight race between five players, which included Mamat and big local hope Thaworn at the top of the leaders' board, the 23-year-old fired a stunning 64 for a total of 22-under-par 266 to claim his first Asian Tour victory.

"I putted well and hit well and had some luck. I just kept playing, not thinking if I would have the opportunity or not. The score just kept getting better and better. This is like a dream come true because I always wanted to win a big tournament since I started playing," said Arnond, who after graduating in finance with a GPA of 3.5 from the University of Florida, just qualified for the Asian Tour in January.

Arnond, whose previous best result on the tour was a fourth-place finish at the Zaykabar Myanmar Open this year, was thrilled that his first title was the King's Cup. He announced that he would donate US$68,000 of his total $79,250 prize money for His Majesty the King's foundations.

"Before the tournament, I told my mum that I wanted to win this trophy and dedicate my victory to His Majesty. This is a special month [for me] because my mother was born on December 4, my dad on 10th and me on 15th," added the youngster, who also thanked his idol Thongchai Jaidee for giving him support and guidance.

A stroke ahead entering the final day, Mamat was chased all afternoon by arch-rival Thaworn, Arnond, 2010 winner Udorn Duangdecha and Thammanoon Sriroj. At one point, they all shared the lead at 18-under. But Arnond, who grew up in Florida, sank back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th to edge ahead with 22-under.

At 21-under, Mamat, chasing his fourth Tour win, had a chance to catch up with Arnond but buried a costly bogey on the 17th.

He finished with a 69 for a total of 21-under-par 268, the same as Thaworn who is the new leader on the Order of Merit.

Bad swing at 17: Mamat

"I played really steady golf today except on the 17th where I had a bad swing. But other than that, it was okay.

"It was just tough with everyone chasing you down for the lead. I'm very pleased with the way I putted and that's the positive that I can take from my performance this week. Hopefully, I can carry that over to the last two events," added Mamat.

Thaworn, who ended the final day with a 68, may have failed to realise his dream of becoming the first Thai to win both the Queen's and King's Cup tournaments, but he still had some consolation, picking up $42,375 prize money as first runner-up, which saw him overtake Australian Marcus Fraser of Australia as the Tour's money leader.

"Arnond played well today and he deserves to win. He played really good golf and to finish with a 64 is a good effort from a young man like him," said Thaworn.

"I'm beginning to believe that I can win the Order of Merit for the second time. There're still two more events to play and I'm confident of doing well," said Thaworn.

Thammanoon Sriroj fired a 65 for a 269 total to take fourth place, his best finish on the Asian Tour in many years.

At joint sixth place with 272 were Udorn Duangdecha, Boonchu Ruangkit, Prom Meesawat, Piya Swangarunporn, Thongchai Jaidee, and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

For video clips of this interview, please visit:

www.nationmultimedia.com/video/7472

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/12/03/rookie-dedicates-victory-to-king/