JAIDEE CLAIMS MALAYSIAN TITLE

Last updated: 4th November 2005

Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee had to survive a few anxious moments before successfully defending his Carlsberg Malaysian Open title.

Jaidee carded a final-round 70 at Saujana for a 21-under-par total of 267 and a three-shot victory over India's Jyoti Randhawa.

Sweden's Henrik Stenson, who closed within two shots of the lead after 11 holes, matched Randhawa's closing 67 to claim third place on 17 under.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington could only manage a 74 to finish 11 shots off the pace, the world number eight's faint hopes dashed by a front nine of 40.

"It feels fantastic," said Jaidee, who was given a diplomatic passport by the Thai prime minister following his win 12 months ago.

"I'm feeling very good right now and this win is better than last year. This is the first time I've regained a title and my second on the European Tour."

Jaidee, a former paratrooper in the Thai army, held a six-shot lead at the start of the day but saw that cushion steadily eroded by playing partner Randhawa and Stenson in the group ahead.

Stenson picked up four birdies to cover the front nine in 32 and when he birdied the 11th as well, the gap was down to just two shots minutes later when Jaidee bogeyed the same hole after hitting out of bounds.

"I lost my concentration," admitted the 35-year-old. "Standing over the bogey putt on 11 I told myself I had to make it as a lot of guys were very close. A bogey there was great for me."

The par five 13th eventually proved to be the crucial hole however, Stenson taking a bogey six while Jaidee's approach just cleared the lake in front of the green, setting him up for a birdie.

Another birdie on the 16th, the hole where he recorded a hole-in-one during the final round last year, essentially sealed victory for Jaidee and with it the £108,000 first prize.

Randhawa birdied the last to snatch second place from Stenson and admitted: "I knew the putt on the last was worth a lot of money, I was thinking about that.

"Thongchai is a great player. He did lose it a bit but he made a great recovery on 11 after hitting it out of bounds. I thought after he did that we could have a chance as he was looking at a six but he recovered well."

Stenson's chances of victory came to grief on the rocks on the 13th hole which form part of the wall of the lake surrounding the front of the green.

"I lost the momentum a little bit there," he conceded. "Thomas Bjorn's ball was in the trees and then I hit a so-so shot, misjudged the wind and ended up on the rocks.

"I thought I was going to be able to hit a clean chip but the club bounced off the rocks and left me with a tricky fourth shot. I went for the pin to try and catch up two shots at once but it didn't work out that way.

"If I had made four there I would have had a much better chance of putting pressure on him but sometimes it doesn't work out the way you plan. But I'm happy with the way I played this week to be in contention."

Harrington made up the final group with Randhawa and Jaidee, but after a birdie on the second ran up a double bogey seven on the third.

The Dubliner was disturbed by a noise from a television camera on his tee shot and pulled it way left and out of bounds. "I heard it on the backswing and should have stopped but didn't," admitted Harrington, playing his first tournament of the year.

"It affected me on the front nine but I don't know if the weather had something to do with it as well, I normally forget things like that pretty quickly."

Collated totals (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72)

(x) denotes amateurs

267 Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 64 66 67 70 (£108,070)

270 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 70 68 65 67 (£72,047)

271 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 64 71 67 (£40,592)

276 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 67 70 71 68, Paul McGinley 68 70 70 68

277 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 67 73 69, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 68 65 71 73

278 Gary Orr 71 69 70 68, Wen-Chong Liang (Chn) 70 70 69 69, Padraig Harrington 71 66 67 74

279 Scott Barr (A73 71 67 68, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) Simon Yates 69 69 69 72

280 Graeme Storm 71 72 69 68, Adam Blyth (Aus) 69 71 70 70, Simon Dyson 68 68 73 71, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 68 72 71, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 67 69 71 73

281 Greg Hanrahan (USA) 71 73 69 68, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 71 70 73 67, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 67 76 67 71, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 69 70 71 71, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 70 65 72 74, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 69 67 74

282 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 73 71 70 68, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 69 68 72 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 68 64 73 77

283 Danny Chia (Mal) 73 70 70 70, Simon Wakefield 70 74 70 69, James Kingston (Rsa) 75 69 70 69, Peter Lawrie 71 70 70 72, Rick Gibson (Can) 73 68 70 72, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 73 70 74 66, Stuart Manley 70 71 66 76

284 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 73 71 71, Richard Moir (Aus) 69 73 71 71, Ian Garbutt 73 70 70 71, Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 71 70 74 69, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 74 68 69 73, David Bransdon (Aus) 68 71 68 77, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 72 66 78 68, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 70 71 76 67

285 Mardan Mamat (Sin) 70 71 73 71, Angelo Que (Phi) 73 70 71 71, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 75 67 72 71, Olle Nordberg (Swe) 71 71 71 72, Adam Groom (Aus) 68 72 72 73, Richard Finch 72 70 70 73, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 67 70 74 74, Johan Skold (Swe) 70 71 70 74, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 67 73 76 69

286 Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 70 71 72 73, Gwang-Soo Choi (Kor) 74 70 67 75, Gary Murphy 71 66 71 78

287 Keng-Chi Lin (Tpe) 70 70 73 74, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 70 73 73, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 71 72 73, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 73 68 72 74

288 Ross Bain 72 69 73 74, Jason Knutzon (USA) 72 72 71 73, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 74 70 73 71, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 69 73 76 70, Shaifubari Muda (Mal) 69 75 74 70

289 Uhno Park (Aus) 72 70 71 76, Sushi Ishigaki (Jpn) 70 73 73 73, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 71 75 72

290 Anthony Kang (USA) 71 68 71 80, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 73 71 72 74

291 Corey Harris (USA) 69 74 70 78, Terry Price (Aus) 70 74 76 71, VS Moorrthy (Mal) 72 72 77 70

292 David Drysdale 69 72 74 77, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 70 74 74, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 74 76 72

300 Tze-Chung Chen (Tpe) 70 74 78 78