By Rahul Banerji
Eugenio Chacarra earned the second title of his young career outlasting Matt Jones in an all-LIV Golf shootout at the inaugural St Andrews Bay Championship on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Spaniard won the Asian Tour’s longest sudden-death play-off on the tenth extra hole over the Australian 20 years his senior after the two had tied on 19 under par in regulation.
It was Chacarra’s first 72-hole victory though he was winner of LIV Golf Bangkok over 54 holes last year in his debut pro season.
Gaganjeet Bhullar continued his run as the top Indian on the Asian Tour’s final International Series event in the UK, taking a merited shared fifth place two shots behind Chacarra and Jones at Fairmont St Andrews.
Behind him, Ajeetesh Sandhu also looked to have made a welcome return to form with his top 10 finish on 15 under 273, while Anirban Lahiri was a further shot adrift in a tie for 14th place.
Two-time Indian Open winner Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia and Veer Ahlawat took a share of 30th place on 9 under 279 with Rahil Gangjee and Viraj Madappa at 5 under and Rashid Khan rounding off the finishers.
Vital miss
After they had gone around nine times in the playoff, Chacarra parred the par-5 hole 18 and Jones missed his much shorter par putt.
The Spaniard had ended regulation with a 67 and Jones a 69 to tie on 19 under par 269.
Australia’s Andrew Dodt (68) and South African Jaco Ahlers (69) shared third place a stroke short of the play-off while Chile’s Mito Pereira and Bhullar returned 70s in tied fifth.
The previous longest Asian Tour play-off was at the 2001 SK Telecom Open in Korea, when local player Charlie Wi triumphed after seven holes against countryman Kang Wook-soon and Simon Yates from Scotland.
The longest-ever playoff in professional golf took place on the PGA Tour over 11 holes between Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum at the 1949 Moto City Open
“It was a long day,” said Chacarra on the Asian Tour website later.
Tremendous day
“Happy it came out my way, but I mean, Matt had a tremendous day as well. Tremendous 10 holes, I think we all know he’s a great player. Thank you very much it came out my way but I’m sure Matt will win a lot of more events.
“It was amazing, I think the Asian Tour is doing amazing things. I mean, they’re growing the game of golf and I had a lot of fun.
“We normally don’t get these good days in Scotland, so it was awesome. I mean, obviously I got the win so it would make it a little more fun, but it was awesome.
“Yeah, thanks to the Asian Tour International Series for what they’re doing and hopefully we can come back a lot more years.”
Two-time Australian Open winner Jones was looking for his first win since the 2021 Honda Classic on the PGA Tour and felt it was putting that let him down.
Poor judgement
“I threw away a golf tournament with the way I putted. My speed was terrible, but I hit some nice shots. It is always good to get into contention, but I am done now, I am tired,” Jones said
The 43-year-old appeared to have gone out of contention on the third playoff hole out but chipped in from 25 feet to keep his chances alive.
Overnight leader Turk Pettit of the US tied for eighth on 15 under, along with countryman Andrew Ogletree, who maintained his dominance of the Asian Tour and International Series rankings.
Also read: Bhullar climbs to T3 as Andrews Bay surrenders to the field
Discover more from Tee Time Tales
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.