Peter Uihlein triumphed in the International Series England to register his maiden victory on the Asian Tour, and The International Series, after impressively pulling away from a packed leaderboard.
The American stole the show on Sunday on the Longcross course at Foxhills Club & Resort, carding a scorching bogey-free eight-under-par 63, for a four-round total of 20-under, and a seven-shot victory over England’s Andy Sullivan and Caleb Surratt.
Sullivan shot a 66 while American Surratt shot a 68.
China’s Sampson Zheng (66), Sadom Kaewkanjana (67) from Thailand, and Harold Varner III (70) from the United States, tied for fourth, one stroke further back.
Uihlein, aged 34, smashed the course record with a 61 to take the lead at the halfway mark and began today with a one-shot advantage over Varner.
By the turn Uihlein had a one-shot lead over Surratt, playing in the group ahead.
Uihlein then proceeded to eagle the par-four 10thto move three ahead, putting some daylight between him and the chasing pack.
A birdie on the 12th saw him maintain his three-shot lead after Surratt had birdied the same hole. China’s Sampson Zheng (66), Sadom Kaewkanjana (67) from Thailand, and Harold Varner III (70) from the United States tied for fourth, one stroke further back.
Uihlein, aged 34, smashed the course record with a 61 to take the lead at the halfway mark and began today with a one-shot advantage over Varner.
By the turn Uihlein had a one-shot lead over Surratt, playing in the group ahead.
Uihlein then proceeded to eagle the par-four 10thto move three ahead, putting some daylight between him and the chasing pack.
A birdie on the 12th saw him maintain his three-shot lead after Surratt had birdied the same hole.
Uihlein then survived a couple of shaky holes, holing a crucial par putt from seven feet on the par-four 13th. On the ensuing hole, a par-five, he found the trees on the right with his tee shot but played a miraculous recovery shot. His ball found a bad lie, entangled in tree branches, but he was able to chip back into the fairway and hit his third to 12 feet, which he just missed for birdie.
On the treacherous par-three 16th, where a tough pin position on the right brought a greenside lake dangerously into play, he holed a 15-footer for birdie to virtually wrap up the title. The look of relief on his face was tangible as his ball would have rushed past the cup if it had not dropped.
It meant he had a four-shot lead from Surratt, which became five when Surratt made bogey on 17. It was then six when Uihlein holed a 12-footer for birdie on 17, and a magnificent seven when he birdied the par-five 18th.
“Bit of a dream, really,” said Uihlein, who plays for RangeGoats GC on LIV Golf.
“I mean, I was two over par through eight holes on the first day. I tripled 17, and it was a bit of a grind that day, and then the next day I just kind of blitzed it, and yesterday kind of survived. And today, obviously, I kind of had some things going my way, no doubt about it. So just one of those days where things were going my way, and I took advantage of it. So, I'm happy to be here.”
Surprisingly this is only Uihlein’s fourth win since turning professional in 2013. He has won once before on the DP World Tour, and twice on the Korn Ferry Tour while on the LIV Golf League he has come close to winning on multiple occasions having finished second four times.
He earned a cheque for US$360,000 and moves into third on The International Series Rankings, which is still being led by American John Catlin.
The golf course, located in Surrey, played a big part in his success.
He added: “I loved it. You were allowed to try different things. You could play it different ways. I obviously was very aggressive and tried to kind of drive to a lot of greens, and, you know, it paid off. There are obviously other ways guys probably played it, but I liked the strategy we had. I like the game plan we were doing, and I had fun doing it. So that's part of this, part of the equation.”
Both Sullivan and Surratt, playing together, missed makeable birdie putts on the last to snatch second place outright.
Said Sullivan, a four-time winner on the DP World Tour: “I loved it, it was great. I really enjoyed myself, I'm not gonna lie. Being competitive at golf and obviously seeing a load of lads that I haven't seen for a while, obviously, because we don't play with the Asian Tour as much any more, and the LIV guys as well. So, it's good to see friends that I haven't seen for a while and catch up with them, and obviously to play good golf, it’s great.”
Surratt was equally as happy with the week but disappointed not to have secured his first win since turning professional in January.
“It’s tough because I felt like I was in contention all day, but Peter ran away with it and that’s hard to beat,” said the 20-year-old, also a LIV Golf player.
“This is a great learning experience for me, and I am looking to improve my game. It’s a really good week to be build off.
“I have been working really hard on a lot of things and it’s nice to have things pay off. It’s been a year when I have kind of been waiting on a breakthrough. I have had a couple of close calls, but I know that week is coming eventually.”
Earlier in the day Indonesian Jonathan Wijono stormed through with a 64 and eventually ended in ninth place, 11 behind the champion.
This week’s US$2million tournament is the ninth event of the year on the Asian Tour and the fourth stop on The International Series.
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of 10 elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings leader promotion to the LIV Golf League
