SURREY: US golfer Peter Uihlein triumphed in the International Series England on Sunday to register his maiden victory on the Asian Tour and The International Series, pulling away impressively from a packed leaderboard.
The American stole the show on the Longcross course at Foxhills Golf Club, carding a scorching bogey-free eight-under-par 63 for a four-round total of 20-under. This gave him a seven-shot victory over England’s Andy Sullivan, who shot a 66, and fellow American Caleb Surratt, who shot a 68.
China’s Sampson Zheng (66), Sadom Kaewkanjana (67) from Thailand, and Harold Varner III (70) from the US tied for fourth, one stroke further back.
Uihlein, aged 34, smashed the course record with a 61 to take the lead at the halfway mark and began the day with a one-shot advantage over Varner. By the turn Uihlein had a one-shot lead over Surratt, playing in the group ahead.
Uihlein then proceeded to eagle the par-four 10th to move three ahead, putting some daylight between him and the chasing pack. A birdie on the 12th saw him maintain his three-shot lead after Surratt had birdied the same hole.
Uihlein then survived a couple of shaky holes, holing a crucial par putt from seven feet on the par-four 13th. On the ensuing hole, a par-five, he found the trees on the right with his tee shot but played a miraculous recovery shot. His ball found a bad lie, entangled in tree branches, but he was able to chip back into the fairway and hit his third to 12 feet, which he just missed for a birdie.
On the treacherous par-three 16th, where a tough pin position on the right brought a greenside lake dangerously into play, he holed a 15-footer for a birdie to virtually wrap up the title. The look of relief on his face was tangible as his ball would have rushed past the cup if it had not dropped.
It meant he had a four-shot lead from Surratt, which became five when Surratt made a bogey on hole 17. It became six when Uihlein holed a 12-footer for a birdie at the same hole, and a magnificent seven when he birdied the par-five 18th.
“Bit of a dream, really,” said Uihlein, who plays for RangeGoats GC on LIV Golf.
“I mean, I was two over par through eight holes on the first day. I tripled 17 and it was a bit of a grind that day, and then the next day I just kind of blitzed it, and yesterday kind of survived. And today, obviously, I kind of had some things going my way, no doubt about it. So just kind of one of those days where things were going my way, and I took advantage of it. So, I’m happy to be here.”
Surprisingly, this is only Uihlein’s fourth win since he turned professional in 2013. He has won once before on the DP World Tour and twice on the Korn Ferry Tour, while on the LIV Golf League he has come close to winning on multiple occasions, having finished second four times.
He earned a cheque for US$360,000 and moves into third on The International Series Rankings, currently still led by American John Catlin.
The golf course, located in Surrey, played a big part in his success.
He said: “I loved it. You were allowed to try different things. You could play it different ways. I obviously was very aggressive and tried to kind of drive to a lot of greens, and, you know, it paid off. There are obviously other ways guys probably played it, but I liked the strategy we had. I like the game plan we were doing, and I had fun doing it.”
Both Sullivan and Surratt, playing together, missed makeable birdie putts on the last to snatch second place outright.
Earlier in the day Indonesian Jonathan Wijono stormed through with a 64 and eventually ended in ninth place, 11 behind the champion.
This week’s $2m tournament is the ninth event of the year on the Asian Tour and the fourth stop on The International Series.
The Asian Tour now has a two-week break before the Mandiri Indonesia Open. The $500,000 event will be played at Damai Indah Golf (PIK Course) from Aug. 29-Sept. 1. Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong, whose strong performance this week finished in a tie for 13th, is the defending champion.
