Mardan Mamat completed a wire to wire victory at the ICTSI Philippine Open to end a six year winless run on the Asian Tour.
The 44 year old Singaporean closed with a 71 at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club for an eight under par aggregate total.
He finished five clear of Korea’s Mo Joong-kyng, who signed off with a 74, while Antonio Lascuna and Azuma Yano shared third on one under.
Filipino teenager Miguel Tabuena started the final round trailing by one but faded badly with an 81 and finished in a tie for 11th.
An emotional Mamat was delighted to have ended his long barren run and admitted there had been times when he had considered retirement.
“My wife (Naz) encouraged and pushed me a lot to practice,” said the veteran. “She said you love the game so much and why must you quit. There was a time when I said it was time for me to be a golf coach but she said not in your dreams.
“It feels great. It’s always good to win a tournament, especially the oldest national Open in Asia. I didn’t do any stupid mistakes and kept my ball in play all the time. The whole week I’m very patient and hit the ball good.
Runner-up Mo was left to rue double bogeys on the third and seventh holes, where he found trouble off the tee.
“I just hit two bad shots, that was it,” he said. “That can happen on this course. I hit two poor tee shots and made those doubles.
“The way Mardan was playing, I wasn’t going to catch him. I was just focused on finishing second.”
