Khon Kaen: Thanyakorn Khrongpha staged a spectacular rally to realise his dream of lifting a trophy in his hometown of Khon Kaen when he won the Thai PGA Tour's season-ending Singha SAT Championship yesterday.
Thanyakorn closed with a six-under 66 to win the event on 20-under 268 at the par-72 Singha Park Khon Kaen Golf Club.
He finished four strokes ahead of Namchok Tantipokhakul (72), who held a two-shot advantage after three rounds.
Prom Meesawat carded six birdies after 16 holes to race up the leaderboard but dropped a shot on the 17th to finish on 67 and settle for third on 15 under with Suradit Yongcharoenchai (70).
It was the fourth Thai PGA Tour title for Thanyakorn which ended a long drought as his previous three wins were all recorded in 2013.
Starting the day two shots adrift, Thanyakorn got off aggressively and pulled level with Namchok on 17 under by sinking three birdies on the first four holes against Namchok's only one on the fourth.
A double bogey by Namchok at the par-three fifth left Thanyakorn two shots in front. Thanyakorn dropped a shot each on the sixth and seventh, but the overnight leader let his opponent slip ahead again following a bogey on the eighth.
Thanyakorn, who also plays on the Japan Tour, was on fire on the back nine, grabbing five birdies to finish on 20 under. Namchok picked up just three birdies and a bogey on his way out.
Thanyakorn, who received 750,000 baht, said: "I always wanted to win in front of my home fans. Finally, I made it. I was surprised to record a 20-under score. Whatever happened today was beyond my expectations."
Namchok took home 450,000 baht and also won the year's Order of Merit Award after grossing 974,722 baht -- 15,077 baht more than second-placed Udorn Duangdecha, who received 59,700 baht for his joint 16th-place finish on six-under 282.
Settee Prakongvech shared fifth place with Piya Swangarunporn (71) on 14-under 274.
The first tournament next season is scheduled to take place in Chiang Mai in February.