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Loar wins Korean Open
12/09/2004 12:04 - (SA)
Seoul - American Edward Loar won the Asian PGA tour's US$400 000 Korean Open on Sunday.
The left-handed Loar beat Simon Yates of Scotland by three strokes and South African star Ernie Els by four strokes at the Woo Jung Hills Country Club in Cheonan, south of Seoul.
"Victory is always sweet and I would say this ranks above my Thailand win," said Loar, winner of the Thailand Open last year.
"We had a tough golf course this week, and you had to grind it out on every hole as something big could happen. It feels pretty good."
Overnight leader, Australian Terry Pilkadaris, shot a 78 to share fourth place with Hendrik Buhrmann of South Africa.
Loar made up for three bogeys with four birdies mid-round. He finished the tournament in style, sinking a birdie on the last hole in front of a large gallery.
Els began with a birdie but then shot two successive bogeys. His hopes of winning faded when he double-bogeyed on the par-3 13th hole.
"I haven't played well all weekend. I thought I hit it better today but the putter went kind of cold," said Els. "I think I lost all the momentum when I missed those little putts on 10 and 11 in the third round."
Yates quickly caught up with birdies on holes 8, 10, and 13 Sunday.
"I'm real happy to play the way I did," said the Thailand-based Scotsman. "It's another good week."
- AP
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