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Late surge gives Brown Johnnie Walker Classic victory

02/03/2008

Mark Brown hit four birdies in his final round to claim the title at this year's Johnnie Walker Classic in India.

The New Zealander was trailing Taichiro Kiyota by four strokes with just seven holes left to play.

However, two bogeys from the Japanese player on the 13th and 17th holes and Brown's four birdies allowed for a dramatic reversal of fortunes, giving the 33 year-old his second tournament victory in as many weeks.

Brown could even afford to miss a short birdie put on the penultimate hole, finishing with a five-under-par round of 67and an impressive 18-under-par 270 stroke total.

Kiyota shared second place with the Australians Scott Strange and Greg Chalmers, while Britain's Graeme Storm finished in joint-fifth position alongside the Swede Johan Edfors and local favourite Shiv Kapur.

"As the score shows, the front nine were great but I started to think about victory on the back nine and lost my pace," commented Kiyota.

"On the 12th hole, I began thinking that I could win and made a bogey. That just knocked me off my pace, but Mark played great golf over the back nine."

Kiyota's late capitulation ended his chances of becoming the second-ever Japanese player to win a European Tour event after Isao Aoki.

Brown however added to his victory in last week's SAIL Open in India, his first professional title on the Asian Tour.