Jaidee survives a slight scare

Malaysian Open: Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee had to survive a few anxious moments before successfully defending his Malaysian Open title in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

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.

Paul McGinley closed with a fine, four-under-par 68 to finish in a tie for fourth place on 12 under par.

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

Peter Lawrie closed with a 72 to be on five under par. But Gary Murphy crashed to a 78 which included six bogeys and a triple bogey seven.

"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 the gap was down to just two shots minutes later when Jaidee bogeyed the same hole after going 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 proved to be the crucial hole, however, as Stenson took 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 €157,000 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."

Harrington made up the final group with Randhawa and Jaidee, but after a birdie on the second he 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."

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. "But I'm happy with the way I played this week to be in contention."