Anirban Lahiri of India fired a closing round of 68 to claim victory in the Maybank Malaysian Open by a single shot from 54-hole leader, Bernd Wiesberger of Austria.
Anirban Lahiri of India fired a closing round of 68 to claim victory in the Maybank Malaysian Open by a single shot from 54-hole leader, Bernd Wiesberger of Austria.
Lahiri began the final day five shots behind the Austrian, but four birdies in his first five holes put him right into the mix. Wiesberger birdied his first two holes but, when he duffed his third into the water on the par-5 5th and racked up a double-bogey seven, Lahiri was just one behind.
Wiesberger played a scrappy back nine, with bogeys at the 12th, 14th and 17th holes. When Lahiri holed out for a birdie from the edge of the green on the 17th, he took the lead for the first time.
Bernd Wiesberger swing analysis
On the long par-5 18th, the Indian scrambled a par from the greenside bunker. He posted a 72-hole total of 16-under-par. Wiesberger needed a birdie at the final hole to match that number. He had a chance, with a putt from 20 feet. But he left it just short and the title went to Lahiri. It was the Indian’s first victory on the European Tour and it comes just months after he earned his 2015 card at Q school.
The win should move Lahiri into the top-50 on the Official World Golf Ranking and that could earn him an invitation to The Masters.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in just yet,” said Lahiri. “But I’m pretty sure when it hits home it’s going to be a really happy moment for me… The Masters is definitely one of my targets. I don’t know how far I’ll move up, but I’m pretty confident now with this win I should have a pretty good chance.”
It was a fourth straight top-10 finish for Wiesberger on the European Tour, but the Austrian was, unsurprisingly, disappointed at his finish.
“It hasn’t quite finished the way I intended to,” said Wiesberger. “After the hiccup on five, I didn’t hit it anywhere near as good as the last 15 rounds. It’s tough to say, but it is what it is and unfortunately I beat myself out of it today.”
Defending champion Lee Westwood also had a tough day in Kuala Lumpur. He fired a closing 75 to end the week in a tie for fifth place.
Maybank Malaysian Open Kuala Lumpur G&CC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Feb 5-8, purse: €2,650,000, par: 72
1 Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 70 72 62 68 272 €439,796 2 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 70 66 63 74 273 €293,195 T3 Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 68 65 68 74 275 €148,563 T3 Paul Waring (Eng) 69 68 65 73 275 €148,563 T5 Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 70 68 69 277 €87,344 T5 Richard Lee (Can) 69 69 68 71 277 €87,344 T5 Paul Peterson (USA) 72 69 64 72 277 €87,344 T5 Lee Westwood (Eng) 66 67 69 75 277 €87,344 9 Marc Warren (Sco) 70 71 69 68 278 €59,109 10 S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind) 76 67 68 68 279 €52,776
Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage
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