Hend cruises to victory at Macau Open

Australian Scott Hend Sunday won a second Venetian Macau Open victory in three years after holding off title holder Anirban Lahiri and Chiragh Kumar of India with a final round of five-under-par 66. Hend cruised to a three-stroke triumph at the Macau Golf and Country Club to become only the second player after China‘s Zhang Lian-wei to win twice at the $1 million Asian Tour event with a tournament record of 20-under-par 264.

The 42-year-old, who was pipped by Lahiri last year, collected the winner’s cheque of $180,000. Lahiri and Kumar shared second place after closing with a 66 and 65 respectively. (File picture)

Australian Scott Hend Sunday won a second Venetian Macau Open victory in three years after holding off title holder Anirban Lahiri and Chiragh Kumar of India with a final round of five-under-par 66.

Hend cruised to a three-stroke triumph at the Macau Golf and Country Club to become only the second player after China‘s Zhang Lian-wei to win twice at the $1 million Asian Tour event with a tournament record of 20-under-par 264.

The 42-year-old, who was pipped by Lahiri last year, collected the winner’s cheque of $180,000. Lahiri and Kumar shared second place after closing with a 66 and 65 respectively.

“Feel relieve and rewarded as I’ve worked hard the last few weeks in Europe,” said Hend, who entered the last day with a three-shot cushion.

“I knew Anirban wasn’t going to go away. He’s a great player and I just went out there with the aim to shoot a good score as I knew they had to catch me,” he said in comments supplied by the event organisers.

“I can’t really remember much about 2013 (his previous win). I remember more about last year where I didn’t play solid down the stretch and Anirban got me. So this year, it is a different feeling,” he added.

Leading scores (par 71):

264 - Scott Hend (AUS) 66-68-64-66

267 - Chiragh Kumar (IND) 67-66-69-65, Anirban Lahiri (IND) 66-67-68-66

270 - Brett Munson (USA) 66-74-65-65.

272 - Niall Turner (IRL) 70-68-67-67

273 - Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 67-72-67-67, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 68-71-66-68

274 - Javi Colomo (ESP) 66-72-69-67, Sam Brazel (AUS) 68-66-69-71, Rashid Khan (IND) 70-65-68-71