Williams lands the big purse

17/08/1998

ZAW MOE took a comfortable six-stroke lead into the final round of the
Volvo Masters golf championship, then did a Greg Normanesque collapse to
let Chris Williams steal the title from under his nose yesterday.
Williams had started the final round nine strokes behind Zaw Moe, who
carded third consecutive five-under 67 in the morning to complete his
third round which was delayed by rain on Saturday.
But he didn't reckon on Williams staging a comeback in one of the most
exciting finishes on the Omega Tour.
Birdies on the 11th and 12th fired up the 39-year-old Englishman. He
followed with a par on the 13th and when he walked up to the 14th tee,
Williams was really pumped up.
The par-3 165 yards 14th will surely remain in Williams' memory for a
long time. That was where he scored a hole-in-one and probably, the moment
which turned around the outcome.
"I hit an eight-iron right down the stick. It rolled eight feet and
dropped in. It was a wonderful moment," said Williams, who moved from
Liverpool to South Africa at the age of four but still travels with his
British passport.
He finished the round with a three-under 69 and tied for the lead on
nine-under 279 with Zaw Moe and Adrian Percey of Australia.
Zaw Moe blew up with a final round six-over 78 while Percey had a 71,
which forced a three-way sudden playoff.
And after four dramatic holes in sudden death, Williams walked away with
the winner's purse of US$32,300.
Williams sank a 20-footer for birdie on the par-5 18th ahead of Zaw Moe,
who faced a 15-footer for par. Percey was knocked out on the first playoff
hole.
Williams, who last won a major title in Zimbabwe in 1993, was
overwhelmed afterwards.
"Never at one stage during the round did I think I could win," he said.
"I'll take part in the Singapore Open next week and hope to play a
steady hand."
Zaw Moe faltered in the final round with a double bogey on the eighth,
first nine, and bogeys on the third and sixth.
Zaw Moe had a chance of cutting clean on the 18th of regulation play but
he missed a birdie chance from six feet which took play into sudden-death.
Zaw Moe, the defending Singapore Open champion, left immediately after
finishing the playoffs.
Omega Tour leader and Malaysian Open champion Ed Fryatt finished joint-
25th on 286 while the best placed Malaysian was Ali Kadir, who had a four-
day total of 289 to finish jointh 38th.
Ali carded two over 74 in the final round while P. Gunasegaran ended
49th with four over 292. FINAL ROUND SCORES
279 Zaw Moe (Myan) 67-67-67-78, Adrian Percey (Aus) 68-71-69-71, Chris
Williams (Eng) 71-68-71-69 - Williams wins on fourth playoff at 18th.
280 Jim Rutledge (Can) 72-68-72-68; 281 Wang Ter-Chang (Tai) 68-70-69-
74; 282 Peter Teravainen (US) 72-69-73-68, Hsieh Yu-shu (Tai) 76-68-68-70,
Chung Joon (S. Kor) 65-73-73-71, Eric Meeks (US) 71-66-74-71, Anthony Kang
(S. Kor) 71-70-68-73, Choi Kyung-ju 68-70-69-75; 283 Greg Hanrahan (US)
71-70-70-72, Fran Quinn (US) 70-69-72-72, Mardan mamat (Sin) 69-70-72-72,
Eric Rustand (US) 71-70-69-73.
284 Mo Joong-Kyung (S. Kor) 72-69-74-69, Felix casas (Phi) 68-73-70-73,
Nico Van Rensburg (RSA) 70-69-72-73; 285 Lu Wen-Teh (Tai) 73-71-70-71,
James Kingston (RSA) 70-71-72-72, Prayad Marksaeng (Thai) 73-71-68-73,
Grant Dodd (Aus) 70-72-70-73, Gerry Norquist (US) 71-70-71-73, Carlos
Espinoza (Mex) 71-68-70-76; 286 Simon Yates (Scot) 72-74-73-67, Ramon
Brobio (Phi) 72-71-74-69, Christian Pena (US) 76-70-71-69, Arjun Singh
(Ind) 70-72-72-72, Lin Chih chen (Tai) 74-69-70-73, Craig kamps (RSA) 73-
71-69-73, Ed Fryatt (Eng) 72-66-74-74, Des Terblanche (RSA) 71-68-71-76.
288 Paul Foley (Aus) 72-72-72-72, Tsai Chi-huang (Tai) 72-72-70-74, Mike
Cunning (US) 71-68-72-77, Boonchu Ruangkit (Thai) 66-73-72-77, Chawalit
Plaphol (Thai) 69-69-73-77; 289 Leith Wastle (Aus) 73-73-72-71, Bong Tae-
ha (S. Kor) 73-72-71-73, Ali Kadir (Mas) 73-72-70-74, Dominique Boulet
(HK) 70-71-72-76, Danny Zarate (PHI) 69-68-73-79; 290 Rob Willis (Aus) 74-
72-73-71, Chang Tse-pEng (Tai) 70-72-76-72, Kazuo Yamamoto (Jpn) 75-71-71-
73, Rob Huxtable (US) 70-73-73-74; ... 292 P. Gunasegaran 73-73-74-72
(Mas); ... 295 Jamaluddin Bador (Mas)72-74-75-74.
(END)