European Tour: Scott Hend wins True Thailand Classic

Scott Hend finished strongly to win the True Thailand Classic by one shot, as a stunning course-record 63 from home-favourite Piya Swangarunporn proved in vain on Sunday.

Ranked 798th in the world, Swangarunporn does not hold a card on the European or Asian Tour,??but almost earned the upset of the season at the Black Mountain Golf Club.

The 32-year-old was four under by the turn and his round accelerated at the par-four 10th when he brilliantly holed his approach shot for an eagle two.

Consecutive gains at the 13th and 14th further enhanced his chances and he superbly??holed a tricky right-to-left effort at the last for a round of nine under - beating the 64 benchmark set by Peter Uihlein and Hend this week.

That saw him set the clubhouse benchmark at 17 under and gave??Australian Hend - the outright overnight leader - work to do.

Birdies at the second, fourth and 10th had left Hend three under for the round, but a bogey at 12 hindered his progress.

However, he regained that shot at the 14th before a huge approach at the par-four 17th left an eagle opportunity and, although failed to nail that, a birdie saw him one stroke ahead.

Hend, a runner-up 12 months ago, had the chance to put gloss on his victory with a birdie attempt at the last and, although his effort just missed the cup, a four-under 68 was enough to land him a second European Tour victory with a score of 18 under.

Thomas Pieters had fired himself into contention with back-to-back 66s on Friday and Saturday. The Belgian had a moment to remember with an eagle out of the bunker at the second and he finished outright third on 15 under.

Uihlein was just two shots adrift of Hend at the start of play, but his round never truly got going and a two-under-par 70 saw him finish fourth ahead of Pelle Edberg, who has an official affiliation with the course.