Fryatt denies Westwood a second title

23/02/1998

EDWARD FRYATT denied fellow Englishman Lee Westwood his second straight
Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open title with a second extra hole sudden-
death playoff victory at the Saujana GCC yesterday.
Lurking in the shadows with scores of 70, 69 and 70 after three rounds,
Fryatt turned the tide when he fired an eagle on the par-four 17th to
finish the final round on three-under 69 to tie Westwood, who also
finished with a 69, at 10-under 278.
His drive at the 360-yard hole was wind-assisted, and Fryatt made the
putt for an eagle two.
In sudden-death play, both Fryatt and Westwood parred the par-four 10th
but at the par-five 18th, Westwood gambled and used a driver for his
second shot.
His ball ended up in a palm tree and he only reached the green in five.
Westwood was penalised with a lost ball and had to go back 250 yards.
He then missed the putt and immediately conceded the hole and title to
Fryatt, who was safely on in three.
"For a player like Westwood to get the ball stuck up a tree is a fluke.
You would be talking to him now if he had pulled off the second shot with
a driver," said Fryatt.
Fryatt birdied the 4th, 10th, 12th and 16th but double-bogeyed the fifth
and had a bogey on the eighth.
"You could say the eagle was the turning point bacause I was playing a
relaxed game. Nothing flashy or fantastic, in fact I missed many birdie
opportunities on the front nine and most of them were about six yards from
the hole and just refused to go in.
"Right now I will be concentrating on the British and the United States
Open qualifiers after the Singapore, Myanmar and India Opens."
Fryatt's first international win was the Indonesian Open in 1996 with a
13-under 271 total. Last year, he won the Indian Open with a 272 total.
The Englishman still holds the course record for the Royal Calcutta Golf
Course with a nine-under 63.
For Westwood, his bogey at the 360-yard, par-four 17th was the one that
cost him the title.
When asked if he would still use a driver if faced with the same
situation: "It was the right decision at the time, and yes, I would use a
driver again if faced with the same shot."
The Saujana touring pro had birdies on the fifth, sixth, eighth, 14th
and 18th holes. His other bogey was on the 10th.
"My contract with Saujana will expire next year but I might come back
again," said Westwood.
PRIZE MONEY - Edward Fryatt (Eng) US$50,000; Lee Westwood (Eng)
US$33,000; Kang Wook Soon (SK) US$16,800; Christian Chernock (US)
US$16,800; Paul McGinley (Ire) US$12,600. Final round scores
278 Edward Fryatt (Eng) 70-69-70-69, Lee Westwood (Eng) 70-72-67-69
(Fryatt won sudden death playoff on 2nd extra hole); 279 Kang Wook Soon (S
Kor) 72-73-66-68, Christian Chernock (US) 68-71-71-69; 280 Paul McGinley
(Ire) 70-69-71-70; 282 Rodrigo Cuello (Phi) 69-71-73-69, Felix Casas (Phi)
71-69-75-67, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 71-66-74-71.
283 Marty Schiene (US) 72-71-69-71, Mike Cunning (US) 73-69-74-67,
Phillip Jonas (Can) 68-69-73-73; 284 Bobby Elliott (US) 70-72-71-71, Park
Nam Sin (S Kor) 77-69-69-69, Tom Kalinowski (US) 68-70-71-75; 285 Choi
Kyoung Ju (S Kor) 72-72-70-71, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70-73-71-71, Jerry Smith
(US) 71-69-72-73, Choi Sang Ho (S Kor) 65-75-72-73, David Morland (Can)
69-70-71-75.
286 Brian Guetz (US) 72-72-70-72, Gerry Norquist (US) 71-71-71-73, Bobby
Kalinowski (US) 73-69-75-69, Yasuharu Imano (Jpn) 70-72-68-76, Randy Wylie
(US) 70-71-72-73, Chang Tse-Peng (Tai) 68-71-75-72; 287 Mike Tschetter
(US) 71-75-72-69, Scott Rowe (HK) 68-72-72-75; 288 Ian Garbutt (Eng) 70-
73-71-74, Nam Young Woo (S Kor) 72-71-73-72, Rick Todd (Can) 72-69-73-74,
Stuart Holmes (NZ) 73-68-75-72, Hajime Tanaka (Jpn) 74-73-72-69, Danny
Mijovic (Can) 74-73-74-67, Raul Fretes (Par) 69-69-72-78.
289 Hsieh Yu-Shu (Tai) 73-70-73-73, Jerry Wood (US) 72-73-71-73, Grant
Masson (US) 72-70-74-73, Vivek Bhandari (Ind) 67-71-74-77; 290 Chris
Tidland (US) 72-72-74-72, Jim Rutledge (Can) 73-70-76-71, Kyi Hla Han
(Myr) 72-70-75-73, Hideto Shigenobu (Jpn) 71-72-73-74, Choi Gwang Soo (S
Kor) 78-68-72-72, Gary Murphy (Ire) 72-74-72-72, Tim Straub (US) 76-71-74-
69; 291 Darren Clarke (Ire) 72-72-70-77, Kim Jong Duk (S Kor) 75-70-71-75,
Jeff Bloom (US) 71-71-74-75.
292 Rafael Ponce (Ecu) 72-73-72-75, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 71-74-76-71, Eric
Epperson (US) 68-73-79-72, Juan Nutt (Ven) 74-73-75-70; 293 Shin Yong Jin
(S Kor) 69-74-75-75, Satoshi Ishigaki (Jpn) 78-68-75-72, Stuart Andrew
(Eng) 76-71-77-69, Park No Seok (S Kor) 76-71-73-73; 294 Clay Devers (US)
71-74-74-75, Ken Duke (US) 75-72-75-72.
295 Danny Zarate (Phi) 73-73-74-75, Hyun Choi (Aus) 73-73-76-73; 296 S
Murthy (Mas) 72-72-74-78; 297 P Gunasegaran (Mas) 73-73-78-73, Rob Moss
(US) 75-72-77-73; 298 Hidezumi Shirakata (Jpn) 72-74-76-76, Ted Gleason
(US) 75-72-75-76; 299 Derek Crawford (Sco) 74-73-77-75; 300 Carlos Larrain
(Ven) 76-70-79-75; 303 Hong Chai-Yuh (Tai) 73-73-75-82, R Nachimuthu (MAS-
am) 77-75-74-77; 304 Brian Quinn (US) 72-75-77-80; 307 Todd Barranger (US)
70-76-80-81.
(END)