Thailand’s Nopparat Panichphol had a nervous wait by the 18th hole to mark his first international win at the ADT Players Championship presented by The R&A.

Playing in the second to last group, a fine round saw him finish with a seven under par 65 to take the clubhouse lead on -20 (268) at the Angkor Golf Resort.

With Nopparat holding a two shot lead over the rest of the field in the US$100,000 Asian Development Tour event, only Pakistan’s Ahmad Baig was in a position to spoil the party.

Baig (67) needed a par on the last to force a playoff, but a bogey dashed his hopes of a win, and the spoils that would have accompanied his third victory on the ADT this year.

A third trophy would have meant automatic promotion to the Asian Tour for the rest of the year, a battlefield promotion that has in the past elevated the likes of Pavit Tangkamolprasert, Chan Shih-chang and Tom Kim.

“I’m excited, winning for the first time internationally,” said Nopparat after his round, and acknowledged that being removed from the final group gave him freedom to play.

“For me, not being in the final group meant I could just play. I had the plan already, so I could forget about them, and the score and just focus on the shot by shot,” he said.

“My putting was very good this week. I like the greens here so much, the speed is not too fast and my stroke was firm and pure,” he added.

Hong Kong’s Matthew Cheung made a determined effort to climb the leaderboard, posting a seven under par 65 to finish in third spot alongside India’s Aman Raj on 270.

Despite rain delays earlier in the week, the weather was fine for the final round, leading to many low scores among the leaders.

Low round of the day though went to Thailand’s Itthipat Buranatanyarat, whose nine-under-par 63 included one eagle, and some very close calls.

“Today everything was good,” he said after his round. “I hit one eagle from 150 yards and holed out, almost had two in a row after that, with tap in birdies.

“Nine under is the best round for me this year and its much better than the first three rounds,” he added.

In sixth place, on 272 strokes, Philippine amateur Carl Jano Corpus finished strongly with a 65, sharing the position with Kosuke Hamamoto (66), England’s Matt Killen (71), Joel Stalter of France (68) and Thailand’s Tanapat Pichaikool.

Jonathan Wijono (67) of Indonesia finished in 11th place on 273 strokes, alongside Thailand’s Witchayapat Sinsrang (68) and Poom Pattaropong (68).

India’s Arjun Prasad (70) finished in solo 14th place on 274, followed by Indonesia’s Naraajie Ramadhanputra (67) and Korea’s Minhyeok Yang (71) on 275 strokes.

The ADT Players Championship presented by The R&A was the ninth event of the year on the ADT schedule, which picks up again in five weeks time with the Ambassador ADT at Hsin Feng Golf Country Club in Chinese Taipei from November 6-9.

Main picture: Nopparat Panichphol of Thailand pictured with the winner’s trophy following his win at the ADT Players Championship presented by The R&A. The US$100,000 Asian Development Tour event is being held at the Angkor Golf Resort in Cambodia from September 25-28, 2024.