Tetsuji Hiratsuka wins third Black Mountain Masters crown
Despite the nervousness and the bunkers, Tetsuji Hiratsuka broke Thai hearts to win his third Black Mountain Masters title on Sunday.
The Japanese golfer was in contention for the title along with Thailand’s Namchoak Tantipokakul, and ended the tournament with a rather thrilling play-off match. Hiratsuka missed a number of putts at the fairways in the final round on his way to carding a 71.
The 23-year-old Thai Namchoak faltered on the play off hole, when he failed to navigate his ball onto the green. His shot at the 18th missed the green and landed in the bunker instead. That allowed Hiratsuka to pick up the win with one short par putt. “I just love this tour- it’s amazing and a bit unpredictable as well” Hiratsuka said after his win.
Namchoak started the last round seven strokes behind the leader, but recovered brilliantly to end up with a 65, which pushed him higher on the leader board. The 23-year-old then faced an agonizing wait to see whether Hiratsuka and South Korea’s Lee Sung would be able to chase down his 14 under. The Japanese played a total of 274 strokes to overtake Namchoak’s last round 65, and then went on to win the tournament for a third time. However the win didn’t come easy. According to the Japanese golfer, putting was one of the most difficult shots in Singapore, while the iron play was easier.
Hiratsuka was mainly bothered by the greens since they were difficult to read, which made putting quite difficult. The Japanese carded the highest score in the first round of the event with a 65, and also in the second and final rounds of the Black Mountain Masters. His overall score was however inconsistent, after he finished the third round of the tournament with a 5-under 67. Following the win, Hiratsuka said that he was now aiming higher. “My win has directed my focus on the world ranking now, the aim is now to improve and step into the big events” Hiratsuka said.
As for Namchoak, his tournament was even more erratic. He carded his lowest 64 in the second round of the event, and followed it up with a 77 in the third. His opening round 68 was enough for him to end on 14-under. “It was a bit disappointing, my shots were just uncontrollable” Namchoak said.
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