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April 25th 2010, Jeju Island, Korea: Australia’s Marcus Fraser landed the biggest win of his career when he carded a final round three-under-par 69 for a three-day total of 12-under-par 204 to win the Ballantine’s Championship which has been reduced to a 54-stroke play tournament on Sunday.
The Australian held his nerves under pressure to win by four shots, fending off the challenges of closest rivals, Gareth Maybin of Northern Ireland and compatriot Brett Rumford who took a share of second place on 208.
Two-time Asian Tour winner Noh Seung-yul of Korea closed with his best round score of 68 for the week to take equal fourth with England’s Oliver Fisher on 209 while Singapore’s Mardan Mamat enjoyed his best result of the season by signing for a 72 to take a share of sixth place alongside Wales’ Jamie Donaldson and Robert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands on 210.
The opening round fog disruption resulted in almost six hours of lost play and led tournament officials to reduce the Ballantine’s Championship to three rounds so as to ensure a Sunday finish for the €2.2 million (approximately US$2.9 million) showpiece that is sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and the Korea PGA.
Fraser’s wire-to-wire victory in Korea this week ended a seven-year title drought for the visibly emotional Australian.
“I had so many chances to win over the last seven years. So to go out there and play like how I did today and this week was simply unbelievable!” said Fraser whose maiden European Tour victory was in Russia in 2003.
Fraser’s second career win will come as a welcome relief for him as he had thought of giving up on the game about three years ago.
“I thought about giving it away, just because I was playing terrible. My golf swing wasn't improving and everything wasn't really getting any better. I thought I was wasting my time and started to question myself and asking whether I deserved to be out.
It has been a lot of hard work over the last couple of years to get back into this position this week which is definitely a life changing one,” said Fraser who took home the winner’s prize purse of approximately US$496,000
Meanwhile Noh flew the flag for the home nation after compatriot Ted Oh who started the day tied for fifth, fell out of contention with a disastrous 81.
The 18-year-old teenager opened strongly with two birdies and an eagle in his front-nine. He birdied the 10th hole but dropped his only shot of the round on the par-four 12th.
“It was a tough week especially with the fog delay during the opening round. The weather conditions were tough but I’m happy I played well under all these circumstances and I know that my game can only get better when I play with these strong players and under all these testing conditions,” said Noh.
Mardan bettered his previous finish of equal eighth last year by taking a share of sixth place but felt that he could have finished higher up the leaderboard if not for a birdie miss on the par-three 17th.
“I’ve no complaints about how I’ve played all week given the conditions out there. My score could have been even lower if I managed to sink that putt on the 17th. I hit a good shot on the 17th and it was only about four feet away for birdie but I missed it,” said Mardan.
“But overall, it has been a good week for me in Korea and I look forward to better things ahead,” added the Singaporean.
Defending champion Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand signed off with a 75 to take tied-ninth place on 211.
