Alastair Forsyth put the controversy of losing his European Tour card firmly
behind him with a dramatic maiden victory in the Carlsberg Malaysian Open.
Forsyth birdied two of the last three holes in regulation play to force his
way into the play-off with Australian Stephen Leaney, after looking to have
blown his chances early on the back nine.
The Scot then holed from 15 feet for birdie at the second extra hole in
sudden-death to claim the £112,894 first prize and valuable two-year exemption.
Germany's Alex Cejka bogeyed the 72nd hole to miss out on the play-off and had
to settle for outright third, with Spanish pair Miguel Angel Martin and Ignacio
Garrido sharing fourth.
Forsyth, who won the qualifying school in 1999 and was pipped for Rookie of
the Year honours by Ian Poulter the following season, lost his card in
contentious circumstances last year, missing out by just one place on the Order
of Merit.
Sergio Garcia was included on the money list despite only playing in 10 events
- one less than the minimum requirement for membership - but was credited with
11 due to the cancellation of the American Express Championships in the
aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
If Garcia had not been included in the money list, Forsyth would have moved up
to the 115th and final qualifying spot, but the European Tour refused to exclude
the Spaniard and instead reached a compromise with Forsyth and his manager Ian
Doyle, who had threatened legal action.
Forsyth had been guaranteed 26 starts this season on a mixture of invites and
his ranking, and one of those invites secured him a place in the field at Royal
Selangor.
But the victory means he is now fully exempt for the rest of this season and
the following two years, a huge relief to the 26-year-old who again struggled in
the stifling heat and humidity.
"It hasn't sunk in yet, but it feels fantastic," said Forsyth. "It was
drifting away from me, but I managed to dig deep and kept telling myself I was
still in it.
"I had a very sore head from around the 13th onwards and when I bent down to
mark the ball, it felt as if my head was going to burst, but somehow I kept
going.
"It's incredible and hard to describe. I was pretty low at the end of last
year and over the moon to finish fifth in South Africa in January, but to win
this is hard to explain how I feel right now.
"Had I been planning a schedule I might have missed Malaysia and started in
Dubai next week, but I'm glad I had to come."
Forsyth began the day with a two-shot lead, but got off to a poor start when
he three-putted the first from 15 feet, although with Garrido also dropping a
shot, his two-shot lead was still intact.
Birdies at the third, fourth and sixth then saw him extend the gap to three
shots before it was suddenly back down to one, the Scot dropping a shot at the
seventh as Martin eagled the sixth and birdied the eighth in the group behind.
A superb approach to within inches of the hole on the ninth set up another
birdie and Forsyth was two ahead of Martin at the turn.
A bogey on the 10th while Leaney birdied saw Forsyth's lead cut to one and the
Scot then duffed a chip on the 11th to drop another shot and was now tied with
Leaney on 16-under.
It looked like being between those two until Cejka birdied the 15th and 16th
to briefly make it a three-way tie, the German then taking the lead with a
birdie on the 17th, moving one ahead of Leaney and two in front of Forsyth who
had bogeyed the 14th.
Leaney then birdied the 15th to draw level with Cejka, who then left his par
putt on the 18th millimetres short to drop back to 16-under.
The Australian did not have long to enjoy his lead, however, as Forsyth
birdied the 16th and 17th to get back on level terms, both players then missing
good chances to win it on the 72nd hole.
"To almost have it in the bag leading by three, and then to nearly lose it
and win it again is unbelievable," Forsyth added.
"Every time I played the 18th I seemed to hit it 20 yards further off the
tee. It was almost like it wasn't me. I was on autopilot.
"I knew Stephen was not going to make bogey in the play-off, so I had to
birdie it and the putt turned in perfectly."
Leaney, who had just one bogey all week, said: "I felt I had the tournament
in my hands on the 16th green. I had a 12-footer to go two in front of Alex and
it was disappointing not to hole that. But Alastair played well and birdied 16
and 17 and we both had chances on the last.
"He showed some guts coming down the stretch because he struggled mid-round.
He made a couple of mistakes, but to his credit he came back with some good
birdies and it was a good putt to win it.
"When you come second in a play-off that's pretty close, but I played well
and can't be disappointed."
Cejka, without a European Tour win since the Volvo Masters in 1995, his third
victory that year, said: "The putt on the last was uphill, but I was
concentrating more on the line. I putted very well all day and only missed one
putt.
"My target was to shoot 15 or 16 under. I never actually thought I could be
right up there. I thought the course was playing pretty easy and I was five or
six shots behind.
"I knew I was leading standing on the last but I did the same as yesterday
and hit the drive a little right. It's my corner there. I was blocked by a tree
and it was sitting very deeply in the grass."
Collated scores and totals in the final round of Carlsberg Malaysian Open, Royal
Selangor Golf Course, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 71, (x) denotes amateurs)
267 Alastair Forsyth 63 65 69 70 (£112,894), Stephen Leaney (Aus) 67 67 66 67 (77,791) - (Forsyth won at second extra hole)
268 Alex Cejka (Ger) 68 65 70 65 (43,318)
270 Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 66 63 71 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 65 67 67 71
(31,433 each)
271 Des Terblanche (Rsa) 70 67 68 66, John Bickerton 70 67 68 66, Prayad
Marksaeng (Tha) 69 67 67 68, Ian Woosnam 68 69 66 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 65
69 68 69 (18,472 each)
272 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 66 67 72 67, Arjun Singh (Ind) 67 67 70 68, Padraig
Harrington 70 67 66 69, Anthony Kang (PRK) 66 65 71 70
273 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 66 70 70 67
274 Brad Kennedy (Aus) 68 67 69 70, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 68 67 66 73
275 Christian Pena (USA) 70 71 71 63, Barry Lane 63 71 71 70, Joakim Haeggman
(Swe) 72 65 68 70
276 Steen Tinning (Den) 69 68 72 67, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 71 69 68 68, Ted
Purdy (USA) 71 68 68 69, Andrew Pitts (USA) 69 66 71 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa)
67 69 69 71, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 69 66 69 72
277 Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 68 70 72 67, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 68 69 67,
Andrew Coltart 69 68 71 69, Harmeet Kahlon (Ind) 65 72 68 72, Jorge Berendt
(Arg) 70 70 65 72, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 68 70 66 73
278 Wei-Tze Yeh (Tpe) 68 72 69 69, Thomas Levet (Fra) 68 69 71 70, Daisuke
Maruyama (Jpn) 69 69 70 70, Kim Felton (Aus) 69 70 68 71, Philip Golding 66 67
73 72
279 Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 72 70 68, Gary Rusnak (USA) 69 70 70 70, Wen-Chong
Liang (Chn) 72 68 69 70, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 69 69 70, Thaworn Wiratchant
(Tha) 66 72 67 74, Mike Cunning (USA) 69 65 69 76
280 Olle Nordberg (Swe) 73 67 71 69, Thammanoon Sriroj (Tha) 71 69 71 69, Sushi
Ishigaki (Jpn) 68 69 73 70, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 67 71 72 70, Warren Bennett 68 71
71 70, Danny Zarate (Phi) 70 71 69 70, Simon Dyson 69 70 70 71, Charlie Wi
(PRK) 72 69 68 71, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 68 69 71 72, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 70
70 72, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 69 70 67 74
281 Chris Williams 70 71 72 68, Kenny Druce (Aus) 69 71 70 71
282 Periasamay Gunasagaran (Mal) 70 68 73 71, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 71 71 71,
Keng-Chi Lin (Tai) 69 70 71 72, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 68 73 68 73
283 Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 66 73 72 72, Mark Mouland 72 69 69 73
284 Olle Karlsson (Swe) 70 71 71 72, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 70 69 72 73, Jarmo
Sandelin (Swe) 69 69 70 76
285 Wook-Soon Kang (PRK) 70 69 73 73, Mark Pilkington 69 69 72 75
286 Gerald Rosales (Phi) 71 70 72 73, Craig Kamps (Rsa) 71 70 71 74, Chris Gane
69 72 69 76
287 Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 70 76 72, Andrew Marshall 70 69 74 74, Robert Jan
Derksen (Ned) 72 67 71 71
288 Ahmad Dan Bateman (Can) 71 69 70 78
289 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 68 73 74 74
290 Peter Senior (Aus) 70 71 73 76, Scott Kammann (USA) 71 70 72 77
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