Janne Kaske produced a battling seven-under-par 65 to become the first player from Finland to win on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) at the PGM MNRB Sarawak Championship on Saturday.
The 29-year-old Kaske missed a two-foot par putt on the third hole for his only bogey of the day before fighting back with eight birdies to triumph by four shots with a winning total of 12-under-par 276 at the Kelab Golf Sarawak.
Overnight leader Erwan Vieilledent of France enjoyed his best result on the ADT when he returned with a 72 for second place.
Malaysia’s Airil Rizman fired a 71 to share tied third place on 281 alongside Japan’s Masaru Takahashi (70) and Casey O’Toole (71) of the United States at the RM200,000 (US$55,400) ADT event.
“It was magical. I started off badly and I thought my tournament was over because of my bad mistake but then the putts started to drop and I told myself, ‘don’t put the brakes on now’. I used all my chances to make birdies and got lucky,” said Kaske.
Kaske, who is the first non-Asian winner on the ADT so far this year, fired the low round of the week to overcome a three-shot deficit to hand him his first title this year.
“At one point, I started feeling that if I don’t win after playing this well, I don’t know when the victory would come. Now that I won, it means so much to me,” he added.
Kaske played college golf at the Augusta State University before turning professional six years ago. He played on the European Challenge Tour and on the mini tours in Europe before trying for the Asian Tour Qualifying School earlier this year where he missed the cut.
He hopes to continue his momentum on the ADT and finish inside the top-five on the Order of Merit at the end of the season where he will earn an Asian Tour card for 2016.
“I’ve been playing well the whole season and this win will get me closer to the top five. That’s been the goal my whole year. This goes a long way in achieving my goal. It means a lot because I’m dedicated and I work hard.
“We’ve never had a Finnish golfer winning on the ADT. I’m glad that I did it. Maybe now more Finnish players will start using the ADT as a stepping stone to earn a card on the Asian Tour,” Kaske explained.
Since it was inaugurated as a gateway to the Asian Tour in 2010, the ADT has grown from five events in the first year to a record 21 tournaments in both 2014 and 2015.
The ADT will continue to reward the top-five finishers on the Order of Merit at the end of this season with Asian Tour cards for 2016.
With the Olympic Games looming in 2016 where golf will be reintroduced as a medal sport, players in the region could earn their spots in Rio de Janeiro by earning Official World Golf Ranking points through the Asian Tour and ADT.
For more information on the ADT, please visit www.asiandevelopmenttour.com
Leading fourth round scores:
276 – Janne KASKE (FIN) 72 67 72 65
280 – Erwan VIEILLEDENT (FRA) 69 68 71 72
281 – Masaru TAKAHASHI (JPN) 70 72 69 70, Airil Rizman ZAHARI (MAS) 67 69 74 71, Casey O’TOOLE (USA) 70 68 72 71
282 – Ratchapol JANTAVARA (THA) 71 70 71 70, Nirun SAE-UENG (THA) 70 71 70 71
283 – Nils FLOREN (SWE) 70 68 74 71, Paul DONAHOO (AUS) 67 74 71 71, Tirawat KAEWSIRIBANDIT (THA) 72 69 71 71, Jake STIRLING (AUS) 70 72 70 71, Blake SNYDER (USA) 73 69 70 71, HSIEH Chi-hsien (TPE) 73 68 70 72, R. Nachimuthu (MAS) 69 68 72 74
284 – Sean RIORDAN (NZL) 75 70 69 70, Thammanoon SRIROJ (THA) 73 68 72 71, Wilson CHOO (MAS) 68 72 72 72
285 – Mohd Iylia JAMIL (MAS) 73 71 71 70, Danny CHIA (MAS) 78 66 71 70, Pavit TANGKAMOLPRASERT (THA) 69 73 72 71, CHOO Tze Huang (SIN) 72 70 69 74
286 – KOH Deng Shan (SIN) 72 69 73 72, Sukree OTHMAN (MAS) 73 73 71 69, Malcolm KOKOCINSKI (SWE) 69 74 71 72, M. Sasidaran (MAS) 69 72 72 73, Jordan IRAWAN (INA) 72 72 67 75