Golf special report: Pariya surge surges to victory at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters
The Mercuries Taiwan Masters wrapped on Sunday at the Taiwan Golf & Country Club. The winner of the tournament carrying a $500,000 prize was Pariya Junhasavasdikul.
Pariya Junhasavasdikul who hails from Thailand defeated Siddikur of Bangladesh in an adrenaline pumping playoff session. This was his first victory at the Asian tour.
Pariya is a licensed pilot who graduated from Purdue University which is situated in United States. There he took a bachelors degree in pre-law and majored in aviation management. He finished the 18 hole saga with a two-over-par
74 and got tied with Siddikur. Both the players entered the playoff after a four-day aggregate of two-under-par 286.
The pair returned to the par-four 18th hole to decide the final winner and Pariya vaulted a six-feet putt as a third shot and stole the title of Mercuries Taiwan Masters along with a winner prize of US$100,000 from a purse of US$500,000.
The defending champion of the event, Lu Wei-chih, disappointed his fans when he missed out on the play-off after making bogey on the last hole for a 71. He was followed by the South African, Peter Karmis and Chan Yih-shin who hails
from Taipei. The duo finished a stroke behind with 288 strokes and was tied up at the fourth position.
Apart from the top slot leaders, another Asian made the news; Hsieh Min-nan of Taipei at the age of 70 became the oldest player on the Asian Tour to make the halfway cut and then wrapped up the tournament with a score of 80. He
did this with the help of 306 strokes.
Not bad for a 70 –year-old.
Trailing behind was the last day leader Siddikur by a stroke, when Pariya made 36 in the back nine before carding a diverging birdie on the 15th hole to force a play-off.
According to the winner, "I didn't expect to win but now that I have it is great. I came here with a goal to finish in the top-10 but to win here is just unbelievable. It opens a lot of doors for me but Asia is my home and I'll
always play here."
Pariya is one of the finest players on the Asian Tour and he is considered as very consistent with the four top-10s this year. Apart from this victory, he finished third in the last month. Owning to a top position, Pariya has confirmed
his card in the next season.
Pariya told the press that he got nervous on his way to the back nine and that was the reason for his performance showing fluctuation in the opening holes. However, later in the tournament, he got control over his nerves.
Pariya said, “I tried not to look at the results but I couldn't help myself on the back nine. I knew I was neck-to-neck with Siddikur and I'm lucky things went my way.”
On the other hand Siddikur is the first Bengali to win on the Asian Tour. He did that when he chased down a victory at the Brunei Open in August. As for this event, he provided the strongest resistance to the winner but owing to
the bad weather conditions, he carded four bogeys against one birdie and had to settle for a playoff.
As said by the player, "It is disappointing not to win but second position is a good finish for me. The best man always wins and I guess this week isn't my week.”
The last person who gave a tremendous performance at the Taiwan Golf & Country Club was Lu. He carded two birdies but lost hope when his ball flew off the green and turned into a bogey.
Lu said, "I tried my best to play and make a challenge for the title but the 18th hole really let me down. This course is so challenging and the pin on the last hole was tucked in a very difficult position.”
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