Asian Tour: flawless Abraham Ancer wraps up historic win at Saudi International
- Mexican becomes first player to win wire-to-wire at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club
- Hong Kong’s Matthew Cheung and Chinese amateur Ding Wenyi both struggle, carding matching 71s
Abraham Ancer wrapped up a historic win at the PIF Saudi International on Sunday, becoming the first player to go wire-to-wire at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.
The flawless Mexican, who had just two bogeys over his 72 holes this week, shot a final round two-under-par 68 to finish on 19-under overall, two strokes ahead of Cameron Young.
Lucas Herbert’s five-under 65 lifted him into third on 15-under, while low rounds of the day belonged to Andy Ogletree and James Piot who both carded seven-under.
Ogletree, who was playing in a group alongside Hong Kong’s Matthew Cheung and Jediah Morgan from Australia, lifted himself into solo ninth as a result, eight shots back from Ancer.
Cheung, meanwhile, struggled and finished one-over in his final round. It dropped him to three-under overall and in tie for 46th in a group including Chinese amateur Ding Wenyi.
“I just didn’t hit it very good, and I was just putting myself in bad spots,” Cheung said. “I made a couple of good up and downs, but I just couldn’t get anything going, honestly.”
The 27-year-old’s four-under in the third round had given him a glimpse of a top-25 finish, and back-to-back birdies at holes three and four hinted at a possible move up the leader board.
But he handed those shots back at the fifth and ninth, and despite birdieing the signature par-3 16th, bogeys at the two previous holes had already done the damage.
“I was very grateful to get a sponsor’s invite into the event, and to make the cut’s a big achievement, but at the end of the day I’m not at tournaments trying to make cuts, I’m here to compete,” Cheung said.
“It definitely gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year. This is probably the strongest field for the Asian Tour for the year, and I was looking at the leader board and I beat some pretty good players, so I can’t get too down on myself.”
The same could not be said for Ding, who also shot a 71, and let his frustration show afterwards.
“I don’t know why I was like this, maybe for the last two years. I’ve been even-par, one-under, one-over, I can’t play eight-under,” he said. “It’s frustrating, and I don’t know why.”
