Osaka, September 29 - Japanese young gun Masahiro Kawamura outclassed Koreans Y.E. Yang and Park Sung-joon to win his first career victory at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Kawamura overturned a two-shot deficit with a battling four-under-par 67 to claim a one-shot win over Park, who returned with a 70, at the Y150 million (approximately US$1.48 million) event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.
Yang, an Asian Tour honorary member and Asia’s first male Major champion, almost won another title in Japan since 2006 before a triple bogey on 11 dashed his title hopes at the Ibaraki Country Club.
He settled for third after returning with a 69 while Liang Wen-chong (68) of China, the 2007 Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, Brad Kennedy (70) of Australia and Akio Sadakata (71) of Japan finished a further two shots back in tied fourth.
The slightly built Kawamura turned in 36 but recovered with a sensational back nine highlighted by important birdies on 17 and 18 to end his campaign on nine-under-par 275.
Indonesia's top player Rory Hie (73) had to concede two more places to finish in a tie for 16th. Once more he double bogeyed the par-4 11th ending the tournament at 1-over-par.
Interview with Rory Hie after round 4 of the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open
The victory capped a bittersweet season for the young Japanese as he had struggled with a thumb injury earlier in the year which resulted in seven missed cuts in nine appearances on home soil.
“This win is really big. Obviously it is the biggest thing to happen in my career. Now I get to play in Japan and on the Asian Tour as well. I’m sure it will brighten my future and help me improve,” said Kawamura, who pocketed approximately US$306,779.
“I injured my left thumb earlier in the year and I really struggled with that. It was frustrating so I’m glad that I bounced back from that injury and win!” he smiled.
Park needed a birdie on the last to force a playoff but misjudged his 10 feet putt. The Korean, who has yet to miss a cut in Japan this season, said the turning point came when he three putted for bogey on 16 and dropped another shot on the next hole.
“Maybe next time I will have better luck. I’m still playing okay so that’s the positive I can take back from this week,” said Park who capped his fourth runner-up result in Japan this season.
Yang, who defeated Tiger Woods at the 2009 US PGA Championship, recovered from a triple bogey on 11 with three straight birdies from 13 but it was not enough to edge Kawamura.
“I played good. I only missed my drive on the 11th hole and dropped three shots there. My game is in great shape at the moment and I’m happy with where it is heading,” said the 41-year-old Yang.
Liang, a two-time Asian Tour winner, secured his second consecutive top-five result in Japan after trading five birdies against two bogeys.
“I just made two mental mistakes in my round. I think I did well. I’m glad with my perfoYe-yan2rmances in these last two weeks. I wanted to gain more confidence from this week and I did. I think it will really help me heading into the end of the season,” said Liang.
Pariya Junhasavasdikul of Thailand, the second round leader at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open, struggled to a 77 to finish tied 22nd.
Scores after round 4 of the 2013 Asia-Pacific Open Golf Championship Panasonic being played at the par 71, 7328 Yards Ibaraki Country Club course:
275 – Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) 69-68-71-67
276 – PARK Sung-Joon (KOR) 71-67-68-70
277 – Y.E. YANG (KOR) 71-68-69-69
279 – LIANG Wen-chong (CHN) 73-71-67-68, Brad KENNEDY (AUS) 72-66-71-70, Akio SADAKATA (JPN) 75-65-68-71
281 – Wade ORMSBY (AUS) 72-67-71-71, Kazuhiro YAMASHITA (JPN) 73-67-70-71
282 – LEE Kyoung-hoon (KOR) 70-73-69-70
283 – Gunn CHAROENKUL (THA) 72-69-74-68, Joonas GRANBERG (FIN) 73-72-72-66
284 – Han LEE (USA) 71-72-72-69, LU Wei-chih (TPE) 72-71-71-70, Prayad MARKSAENG (THA) 70-73-71-70, Tetsuji HIRATSUKA (JPN) 71-66-71-76
285 – Masanori KOBAYASHI (JPN) 74-67-75-69, S.K. HO (KOR) 71-70-74-70, Katsumasa MIYAMOTO (JPN) 73-69-73-70, Rory HIE (INA) 69-69-74-73, David OH (USA) 75-67-69-74, SONG Young-han (KOR) 69-69-71-76
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