American John Catlin carded a five-under-par 67 to secure his first wire-to-wire victory and second Asian Development Tour (ADT) title, following the final round of the PGM EurAsia Perak Championship on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Catlin, who won his maiden ADT title in 2016, traded seven birdies for two bogeys for a winning total of 16-under-par 272 and a seven-stroke triumph over Australian Martin Dive (279) at the RM200,000(approx.US$44,600) ADT event.
“Honestly I felt terrible this morning because I didn’t get enough sleep last night. I was not feeling well all day and I just kept telling myself to put one foot in front of the other and play it one shot at a time. That was all I was saying to myself all day and all I had the energy for.” added an exhausted Catlin.
Catlin started the round in slow fashion and lost his one stroke lead when he three-putted his first hole and made bogey. He soon found his momentum with two birdies on holes four and five before dropping a shot on the sixth to turn in 36. From then on, he nailed four more birdies on his way home and sealed the deal with a birdie on hole 18.
“This win means a lot because I have been really close on the ADT all year long and it is nice to finally get a win on the ADT. My birthday is also coming up in a couple of days so this was a nice little early birthday present,” added Catlin who will turn 27 on the 15th of this month.
Both Martin Dive of Australia and Thai Panuwat Muenlek maintained their round three positions at second and third place respectively with their final round 73. Masaru Takahashi of Japan, carded the lowest score of the day with his final round 64 to finish a commendable tied-7th. He now leads the ADT Order of Merit with Pannakorn Uthaipas of Thailand in second place.
Catlin took home a winner’s prize purse of US$8,265 following his victory and propelled him to third place on the ADT Order of Merit. He will take a week off before his next ADT event at the PGM GlobalOne Championship held at Saujana Golf and Country Club in Malaysia.
“I haven’t been exceptionally happy with my wedge game so I am going to work on that Wednesday through Monday before the tournament. I am happy that everything is starting to click and it is all due to good coaching, hard work and patience.” added the PGM EurAsia Perak champion.
The PGM EurAsia Perak Championship, jointly sanctioned with the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) tour, is the 17th leg of the ADT schedule and the 10th stop in Malaysia this season.
For more information on the ADT, please visit www.asiandevelopmenttour.com
Leading round 4 results:
272 – John CATLIN (USA) 68 70 67 67
279 – Martin DIVE (AUS) 69 71 66 73
283 – Panuwat MUENLEK (THA) 72 68 70 73
284 – Kemarol BAHARIN (MAS) 72 67 73 72, Paul HARRIS (USA) 69 70 71 74, Josh SALAH (USA) 70 71 69 74
285 – Masaru TAKAHASHI (JPN) 74 72 75 64, R. Nachimuthu (MAS) 70 73 71 71, Jakraphan PREMSIRIGORN (THA) 76 66 69 74
286 – Brandon LAU Ka Kin (MAS) 68 71 72 75
287 – Sam CYR (USA) 72 74 71 70
288 – Nattawat SUVAJANAKORN (THA) 72 72 72 72, Malcolm KOKOCINSKI (SWE) 73 69 70 76
289 – LAM Kong Loong (MAS) 74 73 75 67, Kenneth DE SILVA (MAS) 74 70 75 70, Amir NAZRIN (MAS) 72 69 74 74
