Abraham Anser (Mexico), who is active in LIV Golf, won the PIF Saudi International (total prize money of $9 million) at the opening game of the 2023 Asian Tour season. Moon Gyeong-jun (31) was tied for 12th, the highest among Korean players.
In the final round of the tournament held at the Royal Greens GCC (par 70) near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 5th, Anser, ranked 37th in the world, scored 2 under par 68 strokes with 3 birdies and 1 bogey and recorded a total of 19 under par 261 strokes. He beat Cameron Young (17 under par, 263 strokes, USA), the rookie of the year on the PGA Tour, by two strokes and won a prize of 1 million dollars (approximately 1.25 billion won). It is a wire-to-wire victory that has never given up the lead since taking the lead from day one.
Anser, who debuted on the PGA Tour in 2018 and won the 2021 World Golf Championship St. Jude Invitational and climbed to 11th in the world rankings, the highest of his career, won his first Asian Tour victory after switching to LIV golf in June of last year. Anser, who fell to 37th place due to not being able to accumulate points in the world rankings in LIV Golf, will be able to raise his ranking with this win.
Anser, who started with a lead of 2 strokes ahead of Cameron Young by hitting 17 under par in the middle until the 3rd round, faced a crisis by allowing a joint lead in the 7th hole. By this time, while Anser added 2 birdies, Young caught 4 birdies and tied at a total of 19 under par.
However, in the next 8th hole (par 3), Anser made a birdie and Young made a bogey, and the gap widened again by 2 strokes. Anser shook with a bogey on the 9th hole (par 4), but did not lose the lead by one shot. In the second half of the match, the spirit was rather shaken. In hole 13 (par 4), he threw his second shot with a wedge into the water and made a bogey, and in hole 15 (par 4), he sent his tee shot to the waist bunker area, committed a double bogey with 3 on, 3 putt, and collapsed. Young, who went down to a tie for second place, struggled with two more birdies afterwards, but could not threaten Anser’s championship.
Cameron Young, ranked 17th in the world and the highest ranking player among the participants in this tournament, failed to overcome the jinx of five runner-ups in his debut season, including second place at the 150th Open Championship last year, even in the 2023 Asian Tour season opener. His runner-up prize is $525,000 in prize money. 스포츠토토
Lucas Herbert (Australia), who plays on the PGA Tour, took 3rd place (15 under par, 265 strokes), and Sadom Kaewkanchana (Thailand), the signboard of the Asian Tour, took 4th place (14 under par, 266 strokes).
On the final day, Kyung-jun Moon cut 7 strokes and scored a total of 9 under par, 271 strokes, and tied for 12th place with Shall Schwarzl (South Africa) and Taylor Gooch (USA). Park Sang-hyun tied for 18th (8 under par, 272 strokes), and Kim Young-soo finished in a tie for 28th (6 under par, 272 strokes).