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But it was all to no avail. Just as victory seemed to be gesturing faintly in Brown's direction – albeit on a distant horizon – his hopes were shattered by a series of errors. What was almost an inch-perfect approach on 11 hopped the wrong way, and instead of a 6-footer for birdie he was left with a difficult chip out of thick greenside rough. He had almost holed a similar shot on 9 for eagle, but this time he left it short and missed the putt. Worse followed on the par-3 12th, where he hit under the ball and cut it right, only just clearing the water. Playing partner Graeme Storm had been furious with his own tee shot, which he faded instead of drawing to leave himself 25 feet from the hole, but Brown played three shots before Storm was called back into action.

A double-bogey for Brown, which was to be followed by another bogey on 14. Four strokes dropped, and all the good work of thirty-one holes undone in four. He showed immense character to fight back with birdies on 15, 17 and 18, dragging himself back into contention with the leading clubhouse score of 6-under. That provided a glimmer of hope of a play-off, but it was not to be.

Richard Finch on 12 - the leader going into the final round, but finished third after a frustrating day. [China.org.cn]

 

And so the attention shifted elsewhere, and what a war of attrition it was. A clutch of players hovered around 6-under – Finch, Castano, Strange, Dixon, and Chapchai Nirat of Thailand, with first-round leader Markus Brier of Austria a shot further back on 5-under. But none seemed able to make the breakthrough.

Strange dropped a shot on 12. Dixon dropped one on 14, as did Brier. Castano briefly hit the front with a birdie on 13, but before his opponents could even take note he had given it back on 14. Nirat fought his way manfully to the last on 6-under, and then suffered the indignity of a double-bogey where a birdie would have given him the clubhouse lead. Finch could not buy a birdie on the back nine – again and again his putts stopped a ball-width from the hole, and he played all nine holes in what must have been an increasingly frustrating series of pars.

Then suddenly Strange surged from the pack. He had won back his dropped shot at 12 on the par-5 13th, and while Castano was bogeying 14, Strange was making birdie on 15 to lead the tournament for the very first time at 7-under with only three to play. Another birdie on 17, and now he was two strokes clear at 8-under. He gave himself a putt for birdie on the par-5 18th, but missed it.

So 8-under in the clubhouse, and only four players left on the course. Brier was out of it at 3-under, although he would birdie the last. His playing partner Ashley Hall was out of it too. Hall tied Brown's course record on Saturday, but he could make no headway in the final round. He too birdied the last, but it was only good enough for 6-under.

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano on 12 -Gonzalo led after 13, but lost out by one stroke to Strange. [China.org.cn]

That left Finch and Castano, both on 6-under on the last tee. Par-5, and an eagle to force a play-off. Neither could find the fairway from the tee, so neither had a shot to the green in two, and it seemed that Strange's win was secure. But Castano had one final contribution to offer to the drama. Needing to hole his wedge from sixty yards, he hit it to eighteen inches. Strange breathed a sigh of relief.