Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin upstaged the big names to score a wire-to-wire victory at the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai on Sunday.
Battling wet conditions on the final day, Jacquelin closed with a one-over-par 73 for a four-round total of 10-under 278 and a two-stroke victory over Dane Soren Kjeldsen, who also fired 73 in his final round.
South African star Ernie Els, the 2005 Asian Open champion, finished four strokes off the winner after his final-round 72 gave him a total of 282, good enough for joint fifth with compatriot Richard Sterne, Korean Lee Sung and Austrian Markus Brier, last week’s China Open winner.
Jacquelin was the halfway leader at the China Open, also held in Shanghai, but ended up in sixth place. This time, he made sure he finished what he started at the Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club.
The Frenchman, who also won the 2005 Open de Madrid from start to finish, said on the Asian Tour website:
“When you are in a position to win it is always difficult to finish but to be a winner you have to finish. I am really happy. It is my second win so it is not a surprise any more.”
Tee times were brought forward on Sunday because of expected bad weather and Jacquelin made the most of good early conditions to streak into a four-shot lead on the outward nine. Late morning weather turned nasty but Jacquelin was able to hang on despite dropping four shots on the home stretch.
Australian Scott Hend, joint second last week at Shanghai Silport, had another good weekend, tying for third place with Scotland’s Simon Yates on 281. Two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen, of South Africa, and Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie both finished seven strokes off the lead with 285.
The tournament is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour.
