Thongchai does Black Mountain proud

Black Mountain sponsored star Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand made it another week to remember for Black Mountain after he held off a strong challenge from England’s Graeme Storm to win the Porsche European Open in Germany on Sunday.

Thongchai’s third win in Europe comes straight on the back of Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg, another Black Mountain sponsored player, victory in Italy last week.

Thongchai is only the second Asian player to win the European Open title, following Japan’s Isao Aoki, who won the title at Suningdale Golf Club in 1983. It was his third victory on European soil following the 2012 ISPS Handa Wales Open and the 2014 Nordea Masters in Sweden.

The Thai star led by one overnight, and survived a pressure-filled final round by closing with a four-under-par 67 for a winning total of 17-under-par 267, one ahead of Storm.

“It’s a very special week for me. It is the third time I have won outside of Asia, so I’m very excited about that and I’m happy to win this tournament. I’m feeling very confident at the moment. I didn’t make many mistakes this week – only one bogey all week. I played very nicely and 17 under is some score for me.

I liked the golf course. It’s not very long and you have to keep it in play. Graeme Storm played very well too. It was very exciting on the last three holes. The 18th is tough and you can’t miss the fairway. I had to go left and then it was a good chip and a good putt at the last to win,” said Thongchai.

Other Black Mountain players who have done the club proud include Sweden’s Pelle Edberg, who finished third on 270 total and Karlberg, who signed off with a 67 to take a share of fifth place.

Johan Edfors finished tied for 30^th after posting a 73 for a 277 total.