Date: February 24, 2008
Author: Sportal

Brown sails to maiden win

New Zealander Mark Brown has secured his maiden title with a four shot victory at the 2008 SAIL Open in India. Brown, who finished fifteenth on the money list last year, fired a three-under par final round 69 to finish the tournament at fourteen under the card two ahead of Australian Scott Hend and India&aposs Jyoti Randhawa. Hend remained only one shot behind Brown as the pair stood on the 18th tee but after finding the water with his first shot he finished with a double bogey. The win grants Brown full exemption on the Asian Tour until the end of the 2010 season. The 33-year-old said he was overcame with emotion after he sunk a 10-foot birdie putt to clinch victory on the 18th hole. “It was so emotional. I was remembering my father, who passed away four years ago. I wish he were here to see me win,” Brown said. “I was nervous when I started. A one shot lead made me feel everybody was chasing me. And then right through the last few holes, I had just a one shot lead.” Fourth Round of the Sail Open (Par 72): -14: Mark Brown (New Zealand) 69 69 67 69 -10: Scott Hend (Australia) 67 70 69 72, Jyoti Randhawa 67 68 72 71, Seung-yul Noh 68 70 71 69 -9: Danny Chia 68 70 69 72, Gaganjeet Bullar 70 68 69 72 -8: Guido Van Der Valk 72 67 73 68, Kane Webber (Australia) 70 70 68 72, Adam Groom (Australia) 67 71 69 73, Ross Bain 66 71 75 68 -7: Kodai Ichihara 70 71 72 68, Mardan Mamat 71 69 69 72, Ashok Kumar 70 69 71 71 -5: Rhys Davies 70 69 67 77, Tony Caroloan (Australia) 66 69 75 73, Lam Chih Bing 67 74 73 69 -4: Angelo Que 68 70 72 74, Zaw Moe 72 72 70 70, Lloyd Saltman 70 75 66 73, Richard Lee (New Zealand) 72 69 69 74, Ter-chang Wang 69 67 73 75 Also: -3: Peter Cook (Australia) 67 72 71 75, Adam Blyth (Australia) 71 71 69 74, Neven Basic (Australia) 70 69 72 74 -1: David Bransdon (Australia) 70 75 70 72 E: Jason King (Australia) 74 67 73 74 +1: Richard Moir (Australia) 72 68 75 74 +3: Henry Epstein (Australia) 72 71 75 73 +5: Gavin Flint (Australia) 71 71 75 76, Kevin Chun (New Zealand) 74 68 74 77