At 44 years of age, Taiwan’s Lu Wen-teh really had no business duelling with 24-year-old Australian Richard Moir in a play-off at one of the Asian Tour’s most exotic locations.
As it turned out, Lu did the business, shooting birdie on the par-five 18th three times to trump Moir in a sudden-death play-off and win the 10th Macau Open. The former Portuguese enclave of Macau is known as the Las Vegas of Asia for its casinos. Lu, however, never needed to gamble as he kept his cool to win the tournament, which was reduced to 54 holes because of bad weather on Saturday.
Lu closed with a six-under-par 65 in the third round for a total of 201. Moir matched that total with a third round of 69 to force the play-off but was unable to sustain his late birdie charge when he could only par the third play-off hole.
India’s Ghaurav Ghei finished third, one stroke behind on 202 after a final round of 67. China’s Liang Wen-chong was fourth on 203 with veteran compatriot Zhang Lian-wei, a two-time Macau champion, fifth on 204.
Lu was quoted on the Asian Tour website as saying:
“I’m very excited with this win and on top of that, I’m very tired as well. I birdied the 18th four times today because I just went out there and tried my best. In the play-off, I stayed very consistent. It was hard. During the weather break, I kept my concentration as it was a really long day.â€