Karlberg signs off Malaysian challenge with tied-fifth finish

April 20: Black Mountain sponsored player Rikard Karlberg of Sweden enjoyed a tied-fifth finish after he signed off his campaign at the Maybank Malaysian Open with a two-under-par 70.

With England’s Lee Westwood in commanding form, having marched to a convincing seven-shot victory in the Malaysian capital, attention turned to the chasing pack.

Karlberg, who started the day six shots back of Westwood, threatened to upstage Westwood briefly with an eagle-three on five.  The Swede, however slipped back with bogeys on 10 and 16 before redeeming himself with late birdies on 17 and 18 to finish with a four-day total of 10-under-par 278.

Karlberg was a single shot behind the second-placed finishers that included Major champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Austrian Bernd Wiesberger and Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium at the US$2.75 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee meanwhile fired a 71 but it was not enough to meet his target of a top-10 finish as his 283 total meant he had to share 24^th place with compatriot Prom Meesawat, Philippines’ Antonio Lascuna as well as England’s Richard Bland and Tom Lewis.

Jazz Janewattananond had a day to forget after he posted a 75 to end the week in tied-65^th place.