Artiruj Winaicharoenchai relied on his old putter to beat overnight leader Amarin Kraivixien by five points to win the three-million-baht Thailand Mixed, which was competed in a stableford format, at Thana City Country Club yesterday.
Trailing Amarin by one point at the first tee, Artiruj quickly got into the driver's seat with four birdies after seven holes.
Despite a hiccup on the ninth where he had a double bogey, the 22-year-old recovered to fire four birdies in the next five holes, then bogeyed on the 15th before producing crucial par putts from the 16th holes onwards.
He signed off with 12 points for a total 38 after 72 holes with Amarin following at lone second on 33 points.
"I'm happy to win a tournament as it's never easy to win. I just tried to be patient out there, waiting for the leader [Amarin] to lose his momentum. I myself also made some easy mistakes on two holes but I made up for that by shooting eight birdies," said Artiruj, who decided to bring out his old putter to compete in the final round after unsuccessful attempt to adjust to his new one for 54 holes.
"I changed my putter this week, but I wasn't putting well. So, today I switched back to my old putter that I'm more comfortable with. It worked," added the Chonburi-based star, who has won a total of five professional titles to date.
His previous wins came on the All Thailand Golf Tour in Khon Kaen and Chanthaburi this year and on the Thai PGA Tour back in 2018 and 2020.
As the first man to win a Thailand Mixed title this year (the first three by Chanettee Wannasaen), Artiruj he earned the top prize money of 450,000 baht.
Amarin, searching for his first big professional win, tried to breathe on the neck of Artiruj all afternoon but after a double bogey on the 16th hole, his hope evaporated. He took home 300,000 baht.
Finishing third on 32 points was Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong.
Tudpong Chutimaphorn produced the round's best score of 15 which earned him a 10,000-baht special prize. He finished eighth with 28 points.
