Sarit Suwannarut clinched the victory in the final round of the Volvo China Open on Sunday, 5th November. He earned 10 birdies to eventually defeat Taichi Kho and Chen Guxin at Shenzhen's Hidden Grace Golf Club.
Sarit completed his last round scoring an 8-under 64 total and claimed his second title on the Asian Tour. Earlier, Sarit birdied three of the first four holes to pull level with the third-round leader Chen. After the event, he went on to talk about how insane his putt was.
"To be honest, I just wanted to come here and have fun and find something this week because it's been a really tough year. I've missed a lot of cuts, and I've not finished good at all but ... it happens. My iron game and my putting were the problem, especially the putting. My putting this week was insane. I feel like I saw every line, I saw how to putt, saw everything."
The Thai player won the BNI Indonesian Masters, an International Series event, at the end of last year. He was expected to build on this success the following season.
However, Sarit, who became the second Thai player to win the Volvo China Open after Prayad Marksaeng in 1996, has struggled to perform well this year. He missed six cuts in 13 starts before this week and only managed a top 10 in the Mandiri Indonesia Open.
The Volvo China Open made a comeback to the Asian Tour this year for the first time since 2019.
Chen Guxin finished second at the Volvo China Open
Chen Guxin tried his best to maintain his three-shot lead on the final day of the Volvo China Open but failed to do so and finished in the T2 position alongside Kho Taichi.
Nonetheless, having retained his Asian Tour card for the upcoming season, Chen is grateful for his joint second-place finish as he went on to say:
"I have a peaceful mind as 73 was my aim to be honest. I think it adds to my experience. The putting of Sarit was really extraordinary, he can hole everything. He played very well. By contrast, I just play badly, but I need to learn how to play well in the final round."
With four events left, Chen has jumped up to 40th place on the Asian Tour OOM from 115th place.