'Mature' Boulet hits form in Vietnam
HONG KONG'S Dominique Boulet completed another solid tournament to finish joint-fifth at the end of the inaugural US$150,000 Western Gadgil Vietnam Open in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday.
Boulet shot a final round of one-under-par 71 for a four-round total of eight under 280, equal with Taiwan's Li Keng-chi.
The Hong Kong professional, displaying a new-found maturity, shot par or under in all four rounds with scores of 68, 69, 72 and finally, 71.
He was only one shot behind Mexico's fourth-placed finisher, Carlos Espinosa.
Boulet also had top-10 finishes in last month's Singapore Open and Hong Kong Open, where he finished joint sixth.
American Clay Devers won the event, but not before fighting off a challenge from Thailand's Boonchu Ruangkit.
Devers' final round of one-over-par 73 gave him a 72-hole total of 13-under 275.
'In the first two rounds, I hit my putts solid and because of that they went in,' said Devers, who won US$24,225. 'But I really didn't play well today. Thankfully for me, Boonchu seemed to be having the same problems on the greens.
'I played some great golf in the first two days and this was enough to carry me through over the four rounds,' added Devers, who shot 66 and 66 over the first two rounds.
Boonchu shot an even-par 72 to erase only one stroke off Devers' two-stroke overnight lead, eventually finishing one shot behind on 276. Taiwan's Chen Liang-hsi was third on 277.
Hong Kong's other representative in the tournament, Derek Fung, had a creditable finish after his disastrous first-round score.
Fung shot 76 in his opening round but never went above par again as he racked up scores of 71, 70 and 71 to finish on even-par 288 for the tournament and joint 23rd place.
