Asian Tour Yearbook: 2023

ST A NDR EWS BAY CHAMP IONSH I P FAIRMONT ST ANDREWS ( TORRANCE COURSE), ST ANDREWS , SCOTLAND | AUGUST 2 4 -27 | PRIZE MONEY US$ 1 . 5 MILLI ON Eugenio Chacarra [LEFT AND FAR RIGHT] recorded his first 72- hole strokeplay win in Scotland. L ike two Gladiators battling for ultimate glory, young Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra Lopez and Australian veteran Matt Jones were involved in a slugfest that created history on the Asian Tour. After both were tied in regulation play, it took a record- breaking 10 sudden-death playoff holes to separate the two at the inaugural St Andrews Bay Championship. In the end, the 23-year-old Chacarra managed to subdue the 43-year-old Jones for his maiden title on the Asian Tour. It was the longest playoff in the Tour’s history which lasted a nerve-racking two hours and eight minutes and comfortably beat the previous record of seven extra holes at the 2001 SK Telecom Open in Korea involving Charlie Wi, Kang Wook- soon and Simon Yates. It was also the third longest recorded sudden-death playoff (not counting mandatory 18-hole playoffs like in earlier US Opens) in the history of professional golf. Five-time Open champion Peter Thomson needed 14 holes to beat compatriot Graham Marsh and Brian Jones and Japan’s Shozo Miyamaoto in the 1976 Pepsi-Wilson Tournament on the Japan Golf Tour, and Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum stretched the 1949 Motor City Open on the PGA Tour to 11 extra holes in Detroit. Both Chacarra (67) and Jones (69) needed to make a birdie on the 72nd hole to edge ahead of Australian Andrew Dodt (68) and South African Jaco Ahlers (69) by one shot at 19-under par. Quite remarkably, they then proceeded to make birdies on their first five extra holes to prolong the battle. That stretch included an unbelievable chip-in from Jones on the third hole to match his rival’s birdie. Jones, who would later blame his putter for not being able to win his first title on the Asian Tour, finally bowed out when he missed a par putt from five feet on the 18th hole, while Chacarra two- CHACARRA PREVAILS IN ST ANDREWS SLUGFEST YOUNG SPANIARDS BEATS JONES AND ASIAN TOUR HISTORY FOR MAIDEN TITLE 92