Thailand’s Tawit Polthai held his nerve through a tough finishing stretch to triumph in the 2025 PKNS Selangor Masters, winning by three strokes in the Asian Development Tour’s opening event of the season.

With four birdies in his first six holes, Tawit (69) looked locked in for the win, at one point extending his lead to seven shots over his nearest rivals. However a run of bogeys on 11, 12 and 14 left the door ajar for second place finisher Juvic Pagunsan (66) of the Philippines.

Pagunsan, who posted six birdies to close within two shots of Tawit, looked set to build pressure in the closing stretch, but his first bogey of the day on 16 put paid to his chances and allowed Tawit the space to par his way home for his maiden ADT victory.

“I’ve waited a long time to win on the ADT,” said Tawit after his round, “and I’m very, very happy now I’ve finally made it. It’s a good start to the season.”

“It was almost there but I missed my second shot in on 16,” said Pagunsan. “I made a bogey and he made a par, which was the turning point. I’m so happy with my scoring right now, and with second place, its been a good week,” he added.

Having made it into the event at the last minute with an invite, Tawit admitted the first two rounds were tough, and said yesterday after taking the lead that his primary aim was to just make the cut.

“I felt a little bit of pressure for the first two rounds because i had an invite for this tournament,” he explained, “but after the first two rounds it just went from there.”

The Seri Selangor course lived up to its reputation as a tough challenge in the US$200,000 tournament, co-sanctioned with the Professional Golf Tour of Malaysia, and despite scores staying low, the scorecards featured as many bogeys as birdies over the course of the event.

Poom Pattarapong (66) of Thailand recovered well after opening with two bogeys, knocking in seven birdies over the course of his round to take solo third spot, and share the low round of the day honours with Juvic, Yanhan Zhou of Xhina and Korea’s Minwook Gwon.

Early contender Runchanapong Youprayong (69) of Thailand posted his fourth round in the sixties which was enough to secure him fourth spot and the comfort that his game is sharpening up after the season break.

In fifth spot, Zhou shared the position with Shotaro Ban (68) of the USA and Indonesia’s Naraajie Ramadhanputra (71), who was unable to rekindle the magic that scored him an unoffical course record in Round Two.

First round leader Amarin Kraivixien (71) of Thailand finished with a share of eighth place, alongside compatriot Jakraphan Premsirigorn (72), and two shots ahead of Spain’s Pep Angles (68) in 10th spot.

Malaysian amateur Hariz Hezri (72) finished in 11th place, together with Gwon, with Korea’s Minhyeok Yang (74) in solo 13th.

Tiued for 14th place were Malaysia’s Shahriffuddin Ariffin (69), Australia’s Deyen Lawson (71) and the Thai trip of Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng (69), Itthipat Buranatanyarat (70) and Natipong Srithong (73).

With the 2025 ADT season starting to take shape, the next scheduled and confirmed event is the Lexus Challenge at The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram in Vietnam, which is scheduled for March 19-21.