![Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano – out of luck for the third time in a row on Sunday. [Paul Lakatos/Parallel Media Group]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20090427/000802aa2f490b5f8d044c.jpg "Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano – out of luck for the third time in a row on Sunday. [Paul Lakatos/Parallel Media Group]") |
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Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano – out of luck for the third time in a row on Sunday. [Paul Lakatos/Parallel Media Group]
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The result also spelled disappointment and frustration for the third member of the play-off trio. Incredibly, this was a third straight runner-up spot for Fernández-Castano, who lost a playoff to Michael Hoey at the Open de Portugal earlier this month and was second to Scott Strange in last week's Volvo China Open.
"I have to say, this one hurts, but that's golf," said Fernández-Castano, who has four European Tour victories to his name. "I have a feeling that I dropped a few shots out there that cost me the tournament, but I'm sure that everybody else has the same problem. Finishing second again, yes, that means I'm playing well – but of course you want to win. I'm getting closer and hopefully I'll do it soon."
The wind was gusty, but conditions represented a significant improvement over Saturday, and it showed in the scores. While 28 players had carded an 80 or worse in the third round, there was only one nasty – an 87 from Thailand's Somkiat Srisa-Nga – in the final round. In an interesting piece of symmetry, there was only one score under par in the third round, while in the final round 28 players made par or better. Best score of the day was a 66 from Ireland's Peter Lawrie that allowed him to shoot up the leaderboard from 38th to 8th, adding around €38,000 to his purse in the process.
All the more frustrating, then, for poor Robert Jan-Derksen. The overnight leader had played a blinder in the testing conditions on Friday and Saturday, but in the final round he could not find a trace of a birdie. In fact, the Dutchman's last birdie of the tournament was on the 13th hole in the third round – a bad omen if ever there was one – and he played the next 23 holes in 8-over par. He leaked shots steadily through the final round, and finished with a 76 and a total of -2.
Spain's Pablo Martin, who started the day in second place, had a similar wretched time. Although he mixed two birdies with a bogey on the front nine and even led the tournament at one point, he played the back nine in a disastrous five-over and could finish no better than joint 11th.
Including Derksen and Martin, a total of six players either led the tournament at one point, or reached a score that would have got them into the playoff. In addition to the three finalists, the other member of the group was England's Seve Benson, who reached 4-under on the 16th, but promptly bogeyed the 17th to finish on 2-under in a tie for fourth.
Alongside him were Derksen, Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello, and top draw and three-time Major winner Ernie Els. The South African superstar birdied the first and sixth holes to move within two shots of the lead but was unable to get any closer.
The other four big names in the field had a disappointing tournament. Lee Westwood of England finished on +6 in 34th place, Ireland's Paul McGinley was two strokes further back in 46th, while the Swede Henrik Stenson had a final round 75 for +10 and a share of 52nd place alongside American Fred Couples.
Thongchai's previous European Tour titles came with back-to-back victories in the Malaysian Open in 2004 and 2005 and the Indonesia Open almost two months ago. The win on Sunday was also his record-extending 12th Asian Tour victory and underlined his standing as one of Asia's greatest ever golfers.
Leading fourth round scores:
284 - Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 66-71-77-70, Kang Sung-hoon (KOR) 69-71-76-68
Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ESP) 65-74-76-69
(Thongchai defeated Kang and Fdez-Castano in the first play-off hole)
286 - Seve Benson (ENG) 69-70-78-69,Rafael Cabrera B (ESP) 68-72-76-70,Ernie Els (RSA) 68-74-73-71,Robert-Jan Derksen (NED) 66-69-75-76,
287 - Peter Lawrie (IRL) 70-75-76-66,Danny Willett (ENG) 69-76-73-69,Mardan Mamat (SIN) 69-70-77-71
288 - Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 75-68-74-71,Choi Ho-sung (KOR) 69-72-76-71,Jason Knutzon (USA) 67-74-75-72,Pablo Martin (ESP) 69-69-74-76
289 - Brett Rumford (AUS) 68-73-76-72,Scott Barr (AUS) 68-72-76-73,Kang Wook-soon (KOR) 68-69-77-75, Kang Kyung-nam (KOR) 66-73-75-75
290 - Richard Bland (ENG) 73-72-78-67, Graeme Storm (ENG) 72-68-78-72, Mark Brown (NZL) 65-73-78-74, Choi Gwang-soo (KOR) 71-70-74-75, Mikko Ilonen (FIN) 68-73-74-75
Selected scores:
298 - Henrik Stenson (SWE) 68-74-81-75, Fred Couples (USA) 69-76-81-72
(China.org.cn April 27, 2009)
