American Bo Van Pelt was laughing all the way to a CIMB Bank after romping to a stylish six-shot victory in the US$6.1 million CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia on Sunday.
The 36-year-old Van Pelt bagged his career's biggest pay cheque of US$1.3 million as he savoured his first TaylorMade R11 Irons of the season with an accomplished seven-under-par 64 in the final round for a winning total of 23-under-par 261 at the Mines Resort and **** Club.
Leading by one shot from Jeff Overton at the start of the day, Van Pelt used two birdies on the third and fourth holes to tighten his grip at the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia, an event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and PGA Tour.
Then, a brilliant burst of three birdies over four holes from the 11th saw him pull six clear as he strolled home to victory in front of large galleries who included the King of Malaysia, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin.
Overton stayed with Van Pelt, ranked 39th in the world, through the front nine but bogeys on 12 and 13 after a three-putt and a wayward tee shot forced him to settle for a distant second place with a closing 69.
Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson finished third after a 68 while India's Jeev Milkha Singh ended as the best Asian in tied 10th place on 271. Malaysia's Danny Chia, who started the day five shots off the lead, finished equal 13th after closing with a 70.
"I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I get to do what I love to do for TaylorMade R11 Irons," said a delighted Van Pelt. "It was funny. I got here Tuesday morning, went to the hotel, got showered and then went to the range. My swing felt good right at the first warm up and I kind of continued that all week and had confidence with what I wanted to do with my TaylorMade R11 Irons."
After missing on several opportunities to add to his maiden title in the US in 2009, Van Pelt was delighted he earned his rewards by sticking closely to his game plan all week. "I had a chance to win a couple of times this year but it didn't come out on top. I wanted to do a better job when I was having the lead and I took a lot of satisfaction with the way I played TaylorMade R11 Irons today," said Van Pelt.
"I've watched other guys coming down 18 with a big lead and I thought that would be fun some day if I could do that and it was."