Published July 17, 2008 on July 29, 2018

Red-Hot Harding Makes it Two Out of Two with Royal Cup Triumph

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Justin Harding of South Africa cruised to a six-shot victory at the Royal Cup to become the first player since 2011 to win back-to-back titles on the Asian Tour.

The in-form Harding fired a three-under-par 67 in the final round of the US$500,000 Asian Tour event. With a winning total of 14-under-par 266, Harding became the first player to win twice in his first two starts in Asia.

The 32-year-old won the BANK BRI Indonesia Open two weeks ago, took home the winner’s purse of US$90,000 while earning his fourth title in a span of two months at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club.

“It’s been a good little run, I can’t really put into words right now. Two weeks ago it was a surprise, but obviously been playing nicely, just tried to get three good rounds starting the week and put myself in position and then get the job done. I played pretty solidly yesterday it was a strange round of golf. I made a couple more putts today which helped, said Harding.

Defending champion Shiv Kapur of India battled to a 71 to share second place with Australia’s Jake McLeod (67), Kurt Kitayama (67) of the United States and Chapchai Nirat, who finished as the highest ranked local player following a 68.

The Royal Cup is held in honour of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, who celebrated his 66th birthday yesterday.

Leading Scores after round 4

266 – Justin HARDING (RSA) 64-64-71-67.

272 – Jake MCLEOD (AUS) 70-64-71-67, Kurt KITAYAMA (USA) 68-70-67-67, Chapchai NIRAT (THA) 68-69-67-68, Shiv KAPUR (IND) 66-68-67-71.

274 – Prom MEESAWAT (THA) 71-69-68-66, Atiruj WINAICHAROENCHAI (THA) 70-68-70-66, Dale BRANDT-RICHARDS (AUS) 70-70-66-68, Naoto NAKANISHI (JPN) 64-69-70-71.

275 – Johannes VEERMAN (USA) 71-68-72-64, John CATLIN (USA) 67-72-67-69, Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) 71-65-69-70, Jarin TODD (USA) 66-67-69-73.

276 – Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 72-70-67-67, Viraj MADAPPA (IND) 70-69-69-68, Phachara KHONGWATMAI (THA) 72-69-66-69, Sattaya SUPUPRAMAI (THA) 67-69-69-71, Travis SMYTH (AUS) 68-68-69-71, Josh YOUNGER (AUS) 65-69-70-72, LIU Yanwei (CHN) 68-66-70-72, Mark BROWN (NZL) 67-68-68-73.