Shanghai, October 28: Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat enjoyed his best-ever finish at a World Golf Championships by signing off with a one-under-par 71 to end his week in tied-fourth place at the WGC-HSBC Champions on Sunday.

The US$10 million event also welcomed a new champion in American Xander Schauffele after he defeated compatriot Tony Finau with a birdie in the first play-off hole to lift the Old Tom Morris Cup at the Sheshan International Golf Club.

Schauffele, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Thursday, closed with 68 to finish with a 14-under-par 274 total for the tournament.

On his second trip back to the 18th for the play-off, Schauffele found the green in two and duly sank his short birdie putt.

He was confirmed as the newest champion of the WGC-HSBC Champions when Finau’s birdie putt from the edge of the green stopped just short of the hole.

Defending champion Justin Rose of England had to settle for third place after two bogeys in his last four holes saw him finish four shots back of Schauffele and Finau on 72.

China’s Li Haotong justified his position as the country’s best golfer when he posted a 70 to share 11th place with Australia’s Jason Day and Bill Horschel of the United States while India’s Shubhankar Sharma, who leads the Asian Tour’s Habitat for Humanity standings, signed for another 72 and will turn his attention towards strengthening his pole position on the money list now.

Did you know?

• Kiradech Aphibarnrat hit 32/56 fairways and 36/72 greens the entire week. He made a total of 25 putts on the final day.
• The Thai was playing in his fourth WGC-HSBC Champions. His previous results include T55 (2013), T30 (2015), T24 (2017).
• His tied-fourth finish at this week’s WGC-HSBC Champions is his best result in a WGC event and also the best ever finish by a Thai.
• He is the first player from Thailand to gain full-time membership on the PGA TOUR.
• Prior to his win at the WGC-HSBC Champions, Xander Schauffele’s best result at WGCs was a tied-13th finish at the 2017 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
• Schauffele was the only player in the field to shoot in the 60s in both of the third and fourth rounds.
• The playoff was the second in the event’s history as a World Golf Championship. Bubba Watson defeated Tim Clark with a birdie on the first extra hole in 2014.

Players’ Quotes

Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) Fourth round 71 (-1) Total 280 (-8)

I’m really happy with the score because of the way I played. It was terrible. I only hit seven greens in regulation all day. That’s really terrible golf for my standards. I holed a lot of putts, a lot of par saves today but overall one-under par is the best golf I can do today. I think it’s one of the good results for me, but I know I can do better than this, if I can strike the ball better. My iron play was not on form, not at all. I did not have my A Game, even for one day this week. But I managed to keep the score low under such tough conditions especially with the wind. My putting was good and that was the key. I really love to come back and play on the Asian Tour. Everyone knows that I’m born and started from here. I just got to manage my schedule but I’m sure I’ll come back.

Xander Schauffele (Usa) Fourth round 68 (-4), Total 274 (-14)

This win means a lot. Last season, I really wanted to win in my rookie year and wasn’t able to do that. I felt like I was playing great all day. Besides that first tee shot on one, where I pulled it right of the tree, I felt like I was in control of my ball. We kept our heads down. I didn’t even know when I was signing my card, I was like, Oh, wow, I actually went birdie, birdie to get in the playoff. I was just in my own world out there. My whole family is here with me this week and it means a lot. You know, it was my birthday this week. A lot of guys talk about the Asian stretch, and to have my family out here, especially with the win, it’s really special.

Tony Finau (Usa) Fourth round 71 (-1) Total 274 (-14)

I definitely feel like I let this one get away. But Xander played incredible golf today. It was playing tough out there. He posted a number and made birdie on a playoff hole when it counted. Hats off to him. He played nicely today and deserved to win. It seemed like we kind of separated ourselves with nine holes to play. Kind of a three-man tournament. So I definitely felt that way coming down the stretch, and it was cool to have a chance to win, a real chance to win, and you know, I’ll definitely learn from this and keep moving forward.

Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) Fourth round 72 (Even) Total 304 (+16)

I’m happy that I competed against the best players in the world this week. Even though I didn’t have my best game this week, I think you always learn when you play against such a world class field. I’m very comfortable now. In the beginning obviously I was a bit starry-eyed playing in this field and looking at all the players. But now I know it’s just all about me playing and playing against the course, which good. I feel like it will help me in the future.

This year has been a huge learning curve for me. I’ve played in some of the biggest events I could ever imagine and learned a lot. And this week again, I think I learnt a lot. I played decent over the weekend and could have gone lower than what I did the first two days. But I felt like the game was better than the first two days, and that’s good enough for me to take into the next few weeks. I’ll be playing Hong Kong and the next few events after that. So looking forward to playing well now. It’s high time. It’s the end of the year now and I feel like I have to do my best to have a chance to win the Order of Merit and I’ll try and do that.

Leading Scores after round 4 of the WGC – HSBC Champions being played at the par 72, 7261 Yards Sheshan International Golf Club course (am – denotes amateur):

274 – Xander SCHAUFFELE (USA) 66-71-69-68, Tony FINAU (USA) 66-67-70-71.

278 – Justin ROSE (ENG) 69-67-70-72.

280 – Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) 68-71-70-71, Andrew PUTNAM (USA) 70-71-67-72.

281 – Keegan BRADLEY (USA) 69-70-70-72.

283 – Patrick CANTLAY (USA) 70-68-73-72, Thorbjorn OLESEN (DEN) 75-69-67-72, Tommy FLEETWOOD (ENG) 68-68-72-75, Patrick REED (USA) 64-72-70-77.

284 – LI Haotong (CHN) 73-72-69-70, Billy HORSCHEL (USA) 68-72-71-73, Jason DAY (AUS) 71-70-69-74.

285 – Rafa CABRERA BELLO (ESP) 68-73-73-71, Emiliano GRILLO (ARG) 70-69-74-72.

286 – Brooks KOEPKA (USA) 72-74-71-69, Paul CASEY (ENG) 73-68-74-71.

287 – Adam SCOTT (AUS) 69-73-72-73, Alex NOREN (SWE) 74-69-71-73, Thomas PIETERS (BEL) 75-64-74-74.