Caption: Kieran Muir proudly displays his trophy after winning in China last month. It was Muir’s second win on the China Tour.

Kieran Muir’s second win on the China Tour

Kieran Muir of New Zealand captured his second China Tour title after he birdied three of the final four holes to win the Mitsubishi Electric Golf Open by one stroke in China last month.

Muir, from Omokoroa in the Bay of Plenty, took advantage of a late collapse by China’s Ye Jianfeng who scored 72 for his final round.

Ye led for much of the final round at Suzhou Taihu International Golf Club in Jiangsu province while Muir carded a one under par 71 for his final round.

Caption: Kieran Muir, from the Bay of Plenty, in action during his win on the China Tour in China last month.

Muir's winning score of 11-under 277 was worth RMB90,000. That’s about $NZ21,500.

Muir’s first win on the China Tour was in 2019 when he won the Huangshan Open.

Li Linqiang, the China Tour order of merit leader, roared up the Suzhou leaderboard with a final round 67 to finish third at two shots back. Zhou Yanhan was the top amateur as the 15-year-old closed with a 68 to finish three shots off the pace in equal fourth with Czech Gordan Brixi who shot a 65 for the low round of the tournament.

Muir and Ye went into the final round as co-leaders on 10 under par. Muir could only muster 10 straight pars to start and Ye vaulted into a two-shot lead with birdies at the second and fourth holes.

Muir then picked up his first birdie at the 427-yard 11th hole to get within a stroke of Ye.

After both players made a bogey five at the 448-yard 12th, Muir looked out of it when he made further bogeys over the next two holes to fall three strokes behind.

Starting at the 15th hole, however, Muir began a run of three straight birdies that would prove the difference.

With Ye holding a one-stroke lead going into the penultimate hole, his tee shot with a pitching wedge at the 149-yard par three found water.

Ye consequently stumbled to a double bogey five while Muir made a 70-foot birdie putt for a two-shot lead in what would be a three-shot swing.

At the final hole Muir made a par five as Ye sank a five-foot birdie putt to get close.

Muir, who turned 36 a few days afterwards on October 25, said: “Any win is special. It’s very hard to win a golf tournament anywhere in the world.

``To win here again is really nice, makes me feel good. I’m a second-time winner, so that’s good.

“Ye played very, very well. He had a really nice start and I got close and then I made three bogeys. Then I think tough work now.

``But I re-centre, go back to my processes. I find a good place and make three birdies. Unfortunately, Benny (Ye) missed his swing on 17. But he’s a great competitor and he deserves all he got this week. He’s a good player.”

For Ye, his runner-up result marked his best finish at a China Tour event, but also a missed opportunity to collect his first win as a professional. The 32-year-old said he injured himself at the China Open qualifying tournament in August.

Ye said: “I felt relaxed at the 17th tee. I hit a good tee shot but I don’t know what happened. As I said before, this is the will of heaven. I did my best and I just have to accept it.”

Mitsubishi Electric FA Golf Open leading fourth round scores (players are mainland Chinese unless noted, *denotes amateur):

277 – Kieran Muir (NZL) 68-66-72-71
278 – Ye Jianfeng 69-69-68-72
279 – Li Linqiang 70-73-69-67
280 – Gordan Brixi (CZE) 68-73-74-65, Zhou Yanhan* 66-76-70-68
281 – Lawrence Ting (TWN) 70-72-68-71
282 – Zhang Zihong 72-73-68-69, Alexander Yang* (HKG) 66-71-74-71
283 – Zhang Huilin 72-71-73-67
284 – Pang Ming 71-71-71-71
285 – Zhang Changlei 68-77-68-72, Gregory Foo (SIN) 67-72-72-74
286 – Jung Woo-jin (KOR) 72-74-71-69, Nicklaus Chiam (SIN) 71-71-71-73
288 – Chen Dinggen 72-75-73-68, Sun Yan 67-74-74-73, Lu Wenlong 74-69-73-72,
Fan Shiyu 70-72-73-73, Luo Xuenwen 67-76-73-72, Zhao Xingwu 69-72-73-74