Van Pelt secures first win of year in Perth

PERTH, Australia: American Bo Van Pelt won his first tournament of the year and the third of his career in the Perth International at Lake Karrinyup yesterday.
Van Pelt won an all-American duel with Jason Dufner by two strokes in a tense final round to claim the European Tour event.
The world No. 24 had rounds of 70-67-67-68 to finish 16-under par 272 and pocket a check for $333,330.
Van Pelt began the day a shot clear of world No. 10 Dufner, who closed with a three-under 69.
“It’s a great feeling to come out on top,” Van Pelt said. “I have a lot of respect for Jason and his game.
“He’s a world-class player and I knew it was going to be tough today. I knew he was going to keep the pressure on me, and I needed to play well if I was going to come out on top.”
An emotional Van Pelt dedicated his victory to veteran caddie Scotty Steele, who died at the weekend after suffering a heart attack a week ago at a Champions Tour event in North Carolina.
“It was tough news this morning. I found out on Twitter, some of the other caddies and players that I follow, I knew he had had a heart attack earlier in the week,” he said.
“To see that he had passed on was tough news. Scotty has been great to me ever since I was a rookie.”
Spaniard Alejandro Canizares shot 68 on the final day to grab outright third at 11 under, while Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, who led for much of the tournament, faded with a three-over 74 for a tie for fifth.
It was a tight struggle between Dufner and Van Pelt on the back nine and although they are friends they hardly exchanged a word.
The tension was broken when a large kangaroo bounded toward them as they were both preparing to play their second shots at the 15th.
“He was coming at a pretty good clip and I was going to do everything I could to get out of his way. I was going to lose that battle,” Van Pelt later joked.
Perhaps it rattled Dufner more than Van Pelt, who had led his fellow American by three shots until the 14th, where there was a two-shot swing.
Dufner hit his second shot stone dead at the par four and tapped in for a birdie. Van Pelt tightened a little and pushed a one-meter putt past the hole and further from the cup. But at 15 Dufner gave the shot back.
Thaworn wins Indian Open in final-round drama
In New Delhi, Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant won his third Asian Tour title of the season yesterday at the Hero Indian Open by defeating Scotland’s Richie Ramsay on the first playoff hole.
Thaworn, playing one flight in front of Ramsay, birdied the last hole in regulation play when his seven-iron approach shot landed about one foot from the hole as he closed with a five-under-par 66.
Ramsay, the overnight leader, needed a par putt on the last for victory but made a three-putt bogey for a 68 as the pair returned to the par four 18th hole at the Karnataka Golf Association course.
The Scot then blasted his tee shot into a creek and was penalized. His third shot landed in the back of the green and he chipped to about 10 feet past the hole as he two-putted for double bogey.
Thaworn, who won the Hero Indian Open in 2005, made a two-putt bogey for victory after hitting his second shot into the greenside bunker. His win pushed him to the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to win with the way I was driving the ball this week,” he said, according to a statement from the tournament organizers.
“It means a lot that I’ve won a second Hero Indian Open title and that I’m now leading the Asian Tour Order of Merit.”
The Thai finished with a 14-under-par 270 and won $198,125.
Thaworn, who was two shots off the lead at the start of the day, struggled with his driver but rallied with acurate iron play and a sharp short game in a round of six birdies against one bogey.
Kim storms to third
Korea Open title
In Seoul, Kim Dae-Sub, only recently discharged from 20 months of compulsory military service, highlighted his return to competitive golf with a brilliant two-stroke victory Sunday in OneAsia’s Kolon Korea Open.
Kim, who had won the event twice before, scored a final-round two-under-par 69 for a five-under tournament total of 279 around the challenging Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in the central city of Cheonan.
He collected a winner’s check of 300 million won (around $270,000).
Joint overnight leader Kim Dae-Hyun (71) birdied the last to grab sole second place.
Kang Kyung-Nam — who led for two rounds before a 77 in the third — fought back on Sunday with a 68 for a share of third with Major winner Y.E. Yang (67).
Kim Dae-Sub came to fame as a 16-year-old schoolboy amateur in 1998 when he beat the country’s best professionals to lift his first Korea Open title.
He repeated the feat in 2001 and turned professional immediately afterwards. But he never quite fulfilled his potential and kept deferring his military service in an attempt to find form as a professional.