Liang Wenchong edges Thai rival in play-off at Manila Masters
Chinese golfer donates half of his prize money to Philippines typhoon victims after victory
China’s Liang Wenchong birdied the final hole to force a play-off with Thailand’s Prom Meesawat before going on to claim a third Asian Tour title at the inaugural Manila Masters on Sunday.
Prom’s bogey-free seven-under 65 in the final round took him to the top of the leaderboard as overnight leader Liang (69) fell back after a double-bogey on the ninth hole.
But the Chinese, who was struggling with fatigue and a hand injury, recovered on the back nine to pick up four strokes, including a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th, to match Prom on 16-under for the tournament.
This is my sixth consecutive event already and I was actually kind of worn out coming to the Philippines early this week
“It has been a long time since I last came to the Philippines and a good five years since I last won on the Asian Tour,” Liang said at the Resorts World Manila Masters.
“This is my sixth consecutive event already and I was actually kind of worn out coming to the Philippines early this week.
“Furthermore, I was still nursing an old hand injury which acted up again early this week. It got so bad the night after my first round that I even thought of withdrawing from the tournament. Luckily it got better after my visit to the physio.”
The US$750,000 event went ahead despite the unprecedented disaster caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands and displaced 670,000 people, leaving them with no access to food, water or medicine.