Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai [main picture] stressed in an interview after his second round at the Mandiri Indonesia Open last week that hitting fairways is the key to scoring well at Pondok Indah Golf Course.

Sure enough, that’s exactly what he proceeded to do for all four days. The result was he impressively topped the Fairways Hit statistics category, together with American Micah Shin on 78.57%.

It was also one of the keys to winning the country’s National Open – for his fourth title on the Asian Tour.

He crushed his closest competitors by firing a final round 64, eight-under-par, to win by seven shots on Sunday.

His 64, which included two eagles, was the lowest of the week – matched only by Malaysian Shahriffuddin Ariffin, the third-round leader, on day two.

Suteepat Prateeptienchai. Picture by Graham Uden, Asian Tour.

He also had a superb week in the Greens in Regulation (GIR) department, finishing the week with 88.89%, second only to Australian Kevin Yuan who led the field with 90.28%.

Suteepat’s GIR percentage was an impressive improvement from his season average of 66.67% before the tournament, and he credited this to putting a new set of irons in the bag for the week in Jakarta.

With his tee to green game in such good form it was no surprise to also see him on top of the list of Fewest Bogies or Worse, leading the field with only two dropped shots for the week. On both those occasions he birdied the following hole, so he also topped the Bounce Back category with a perfect 100%.

And thanks to that final round he led Most Eagles made with three – meaning he finished top of four categories.

Suteepat’s other stats for the week were: Putts per GIR 1.656 (9^th), Putts per Round 29 (T33),Driving Distance 297.8 yards (37^th).

Runner up Taichi Kho from Hong Kong also had a great week tee to green, finishing T3 in GIR and T5 in Fairways Hit, with 86.11% and 75% respectively. His other major stats were: Putts per GIR 1.677 (17^th), Putts per Round 29.25 (T38), Driving Distance 301.3 yards (26^th).

Kevin Yuan. Picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.

Joint third place finishers Kevin Yuan and fellow Australian Travis Smyth produced their high finishes of the year quite differently: Yuan topped the GIR stats and placed T11 in the Fairways Hit category with 71.43%, while Smyth, who led the field with in Most Birdies with 25, excelled on the greens needing only 27.25 Putts per Round (T4) and 1.582 Putts per GIR (2^nd).

Statistics category leaders at the Mandiri Indonesia Open (of players making the cut):

• Putts per Round – Wocheng Ye (CHN): 25.25
• Putts per GIR – Wocheng Ye (CHN): 1.556
• GIR – Kevin Yuan (AUS): 90.28%
• Fairways Hit – Suteepat Prateeptienchai (THA), Micah Shin (USA): 78.57%
• Driving Distance – Roberto Lebrija (MEX): 328.5 yards
• Most Eagles – Suteepat Prateeptienchai (THA): 3
• Most Birdies – Travis Smyth (AUS): 25
• Fewest Bogies or Worse – Suteepat Prateeptienchai (THA): 2
• Scrambling – Wei-lun Chang (TPE): 95.45%
• Bounce back – Suteepat Prateeptienchai (THA): 100%