Indonesia’s Kevin Abkar endured a torrid start to his final round but kept his nerve to secure his first professional win with a one stroke victory in the Indonesia Pro-Am presented by Combiphar & Nomura at Gunung Geulis Country Club.

The young Indonesian, who turned professional in 2019, got off to a terrible start with four bogeys in his first five holes before he was able to get his game back on track. Three birdies followed which allowed him to make the turn and still maintain his lead, despite a further dropped shot on the way.

Thailand’s Charng-Tai Sudsom (68), who matched the course record in a sparkling first round on Wednesday, kept fighting to the last. He was tied for the honours as play drew to a close, posting a pair of birdies on his final two holes to briefly take the clubhouse lead on nine under before Akbar (72) closed the door to finish at 10 under par.

“I knew I had to make some birdies as the back nine is not that difficult,” said Akbar after his round. “I had a good run of pars, I missed a couple of birdie chances but there were a good par saves on 11, 12 and also on 16. That was an eight-footer for par. I made it, that was huge.

“I said to myself before the round that 10 under would be fine and by the time I reached 16 at nine under I thought I’d need at least one more. I hit a good second shot to two feet and made the birdie, that was key.

“I hadn’t looked at the leaderboard until we got to the last hole. I asked Agung (Budiman) how I was doing, and he said just make par and you’re good.”

Charng-Tai Sudsom of Thailand, pictured in action at the Indonesia Pro-Am presented by Combiphar and Nomura, at Gung Geulis Country Club. Picture by Yulius Martinus / OB Golf

Playing with the course owner Agung Budiman in the US$125,000 Pro-Am event, Akbar was pleased to not only secure his first professional win, but also to make it on the Asian Development Tour. “It’s my first win since I turned pro in 2019,” he said. “I’ve only had a couple of top fives up to now but to win on the ADT is fantastic.”

The three-day best-ball format, which sees professionals partnered with local amateurs, was played this week on two courses for the first two days, with 100 professionals and 100 amateurs competing to make the 36-hole cut.

This is the first time this innovative format has been used on the Asian Development Tour, and it is similar to the format of the New Zealand Open which is part of the parent Asian Tour. For the final day, the professional players were cut to 50 and ties, although any playing in teams which made the top 20 continued in the Pro-Am competition on the final day.

Thammasack Bouahom of Lao, who had dropped off the pace after a strong start on the opening day, managed to recover with a score of 68 in the final round, securing solo third place on 202.

Thailand’s Varanyu Rattanaphiboonkij advanced up the leaderboard with a second consecutive round of 67 to end the day on 205, but his first round score cost him the chance to be in contention. He shared fourth spot with Indonesia’s Syukrizal S (69) and Ryoto Furuya (69) of the USA.

In seventh spot, Jakraphan Premsirigorn of Thailand made a disappointing finish to an otherwise strong showing this week, his 72 final round score dropped him to a total of 206 following opening rounds of 67 apiece.

Thammasack Bouahom of Lao, pictured in action at the Indonesia Pro-Am presented by Combiphar and Nomura, at Gung Geulis Country Club. Picture by Yulius Martinus / OB Golf

Rounding out the top 12 on 207 strokes, in a share of eighth spot, were Thailand’s Tawit Polthai, Minhyeok Yang of Korea, India’s Yuvral Singh Sandhu, Oliver Jacobsson of Sweden and Australia’s Deyen Lawson.

Arnond Vongvanij, who scored an albatross yesterday on the par-five sixth hole, battled back from a four-bogey front nine to score a one under par 69 and secure a share of 13th place with 208 strokes, together with Singapore’s James Leow who ended the day on 75.

In 15th place, on 209 strokes, the Thai cohort of Poom Pattaropong (68), Pattaraphol Khanthacha (68), Parathakorn Suyasri (67) and Ekpharit Wu (73) were joined by Indonesia’s Jonathan Wijono (67), all finishing on one under par.

In the Pro-Am event, the honours were taken by Witchayapat Sinsrang and Alit Jiwandana, who secured victory at -27 from a tied second position at -26 held by Tawit Polthai and Sholihuddin Amir and Yu-cheng Ho and Jannes Tjaden.

There was another tie at -25 for fourth spot, shared by Amarin Kraivixien and Gani Arieldi and Thammasack Bouahom and Leonard Husada. Sixth spot was secured by Ekpharit Wu and Wawan Setiawan while seventh spot was shared between the pairings of Varanyu Rattanaphiboonkij and Luke Evan Moore; Kasidit Lepkurte and Andrew Harvey Harjanto; and Michele Ortolani and Heri Setiyono.

Tenth spot was shared by the teams of Poosit Supupramai and Andaru Djaja, and Charng-Tai Sudsom and Krishna Iskandar.