TCL Classic

Last updated: 25th April 2007

Thailand's Chapchai Nirat's overwhelming dominance of the TCL Classic at Yalong Bay Golf Club has ended in victory by three shots over Argentine rookie Rafael Echenique.

The 23-year-old Thai, who had dominated the tournament from the start after shooting an opening-round, course-record of 11-under 61, showed little nervousness as he wrapped up his first European Tour title with a closing 71 after headed into the final day with a five-shot lead over Miles Tunnicliff.

Tunnicliff fell away with stumbling 75 that dropped him 11 places into a share of 13th place in a group that included fellow Englishmen Nick Dougherty and teenaged rookie Oliver Fisher.

And while Echenique steadily reduced the lead during the final round with a 4-under 68, chubby Nirat held his nerve in the face of the charge to land the £85,000 first prize with a conservatively played round that ended with him posting a 22-under 266

"There was a lot of pressure today, but I talked to my caddie and the plan was to just keep playing at the same level as the first three days," said Nirat, who now gains his Tour card on the European Tour for the next two years after winning the Euro-Asian co-sanctioned event.

"I was feeling serious because on the back nine Rafael was getting close, so I didn't want to make mistakes. At the finish I was very happy."

A second Thai, Prayad Marksaeng, finished alone in third placew two shots adrift of Echenique, with England's James Heath and Australia's Simon Nash tied for fourth at 16 under.

Lee Westwood finished tied for ninth on 14 under after carding a final-round 70 and Ireland's Paul McGinley produced a final round 68 to leap to nine under and get away from the bottom end of the leaderboard.

ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES

(Gbr and Ire unless stated, par 72)

266 Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 61 66 68 71

269 Rafael Echenique (Arg) 64 69 68 68

271 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 71 68 65 67

272 James Heath 72 63 68 69, Simon Nash (Aus) 67 66 71 68

273 Taichi Teshima (Jpn) 69 65 66 73, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 69 68 66 70, David Bransdon (Aus) 67 66 74 66

274 Marc Warren 70 67 70 67, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 64 69 70, Lee Westwood 66 70 68 70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 69 68 68 69

275 Nick Dougherty 69 66 69 71, Miles Tunnicliff 70 65 65 75, Oliver Fisher 67 69 67 72, Kane Webber (USA) 67 71 66 71

276 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 73 62 70 71, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 69 68 68 71, Adam Blyth (Aus) 67 66 70 73

Ashley Hall (Aus) 67 69 69 71

277 Scott Barr (Aus) 69 68 71 69, Scott Strange (Aus) 69 69 70 69, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 67 67 69 74, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 68 69 70 70

278 Richard Lee (Nzl) 65 70 70 73, Gary Rusnak (USA) 67 70 67 74, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 70 69 68 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 69 69 69 71, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 68 70 72 68, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 68 70 72 68, Carl Suneson (Spa) 66 68 72 72, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 71 68 71 68, Iain Steel (Myn) 71 68 67 72

279 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 67 66 73 73, Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 72 66 71 70, Mark Pilkington 68 70 71 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 66 70 74 69, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 66 71 70 72, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 70 71 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 69 72 69, Paul McGinley 72 67 72 68, Wen Teh Lu (Tpe) 65 69 68 77

280 Steve Alker (Nzl) 67 71 70 72, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 69 69 72 70, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 67 70 70 73

281 Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 68 68 69 76, Keith Horne (Rsa) 65 72 70 74, Unho Park (Aus) 68 71 74 68, Simon Griffiths 68 70 72 71, Francois Calmels (Fra) 69 68 74 70, Barry Lane 68 71 70 72

282 Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 67 70 73 72, Neven Basic (Aus) 71 67 71 73, Sam Little 68 67 74 73

283 Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 73 66 72 72, Julien Foret (Por) 69 70 72 72, Luis Claverie (Spa) 68 70 73 72, Matthew Zions (Aus) 69 68 72 74, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 73 65 72 73, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 68 66 73 76, Adam Groom (Aus) 69 70 72 72

284 Scott Hend (Aus) 66 73 74 71, Danny Chia (Myn) 68 70 74 72, Simon Hurd 71 67 74 72

285 Sung-Man Lee (Kor) 71 68 70 76

287 Matthew Richardson 71 67 74 75

(x) denotes amateurs