Thailand’s Nopparat Panichphol survived an early play-off scare to secure victory after four extra holes at the Indonesia Pro-Am presented by Combiphar and Nomura today, edging Su Ching-hung of Chinese Taipei after the pair finished tied in normal play.

The first play-off saw the pair both make the fairway from the tee, with Su hitting his second shot to within three feet, putting the pressure on Nopparat who ended past the pin with around 10 feet to the hole.

He missed his birdie attempt with a tap in for par, but Su was unable to convert his birdie, sending them back to the 18th tee for a second try in the US$125,000 ADT event.

After both parred the second playoff hole, officials changed the pin position, but again they parred and returned to the tee for the fourth time.

This time Su flared his drive to the right penalty area and although he made the green on his third shot, he was unable to make par.

Nopparat once again drove to the center of the fairway, and despite being unable to make birdie after leaving himself around eight feet to finish, the tap-in par was enough to clinch his second win on the Asian Development Tour.

“On the first hole, I was not too far but he was close to the pin,” Nopparat said after his close shave while chasing victory. “I thought he would win but he missed the putt.

With position perfect drives on all four playoff holes, he revealed his plan that allowed him to last the distance on the West course at Gunung Geulis Country Club in Bogor, Indonesia.

“On the second, third and last hole, I hit to the same spot,” he said. “Same distance, 100 yards into the wind, with the back pin I had to change club and add a little more,” he added.

In the mixed Pro-Am event, where leading ADT players were paired with invited guests, Sofjan Arsad and Darcy Brereton clinched the US$25,000 team prize after a countback ahead of Ben Tumbel and Kammalas Namuangruk.

“The format is great,” said Nopparat when asked about the mixed event setup. ” It’s great to play with amateurs as a team, not only with professionals all the time because when we are playing, everyone is focused on the game and the score,” he added.

Nopparat (65) matched his round two score with the low round of the day to vault to the top of the leaderboard, while second round leader Su (68) had to battle to maintain position after three early bogeys threatened to derail his round.

England’s Finlay Mason (67) put himself in early contention with a hole-out eagle on the par four fourth hole, but a double bpgey two holes later dropped him back to the field and a share of third place.

He shared the position with leading Indonesian player Naraajie Ramadhanputra (68) and Carl Jano Corpus of the Philippines (69).

Siddikur Rahman (68) of Bangladesh and America’s Grant Godfrey (70) shared sixth spot, while rounding out the top ten with a share of eighth spot were last month’s winner Matt Killen (68) of England, Australia’s Darcy Brereton (68), Liu Yung-hua (68) of Chinese Taipei, Indonesia’s Jonahan Wijono (69) and Roberto Lebrija (66) of Mexico.

The ADT returns to action next month with the Nam A Bank Vietnam Masters, with the US$90,000 event to be played at Royal Long An Golf & Country Club in Vietnam from October 8-10.

Main picture: Nopparat Panichphol of Thailand with the winner’s trophy following his victory in the Indonesia Pro-Am presented by Combiphar and Nomura at Gunung Geulis Country Club. Picture courtesy OB Golf.