25 October 2004	Monday	10 Ramazan 1425

SHANGHAI, Oct 24: In-form Australian Terry Pilkadaris won his first Asian Tour title here on Sunday as the overnight leader fired a closing 72 to take the $200,000 Crowne Plaza Open crown.

Pilkadaris even-par round handed him a one-shot victory at Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club ahead of Thai veteran Boonchu Ruangkit. American Gary Rusnak and Australian Marcus Both shared third a further two shots back.

After tying for fourth at the Kolon Korean Open and finishing second at the Taiwan Open in his last three starts, Pilkadaris was delighted to secure his breakthrough victory.

"The feeling is great and just one of relief. I was really disappointed after the Korean Open. I played great for 68 holes and let it slip with one loose shot on the last day," he said.

"However, I have been knocking on the door. Taiwan was a great fightback and showed I was playing well," said Pilkadaris, who finished here with a four-day total of eight-under-par 280.

Pilkadaris pocketed US$32,300 for first place. The victor paid tribute to his new psychologist wife, Monique, whom he married in Melbourne three weeks ago and who will join the first-time winner tomorrow evening in southern China for the Sanya Open.

"As soon as we heard the tournament was going to be at the same place as the BMW Asian Open (where he tied 17th), I was really confident. In fact, I told Monique that I would win here," Pilkadaris said.

Boonchu, who at 48 years of age is enjoying a superb season in Asia, continued the strong form of both himself and his Thai colleagues in 2004 with a final 68 for outright second. It was a fifth top-10 of the season for the winner of this years Thai Open, the eldest victor in Asian Tour history.

The leading mainland Chinese player at the inaugural event was veteran Zheng Wen-gen, who tied for 23rd at three-over 291.

The Asian Tour stays in China next week, moving south to the holiday resort island of Hainan for the second Sanya Open, where Marcus Both will defend his title at the 250,000 US dollar tournament.

Final round scores:

280 - Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 67-69-72-72

281 - Boonchu Ruangkit (THA) 68-72-73-68

283 - Gary Rusnak (USA) 70-74-69-70, Marcus Both (AUS) 69-72-69-73

284 - Craig Kamps (RSA) 67-73-76-68, Anthony Summers (AUS) 66-72-75-71

286 - Greg Hanrahan (USA) 70-74-71-71, Satoshi Tomiyama (JPN) 72-71-72-71, Somkiat Srisanga (THA) 64-74-75-73, Eiji Mizoguchi (JPN) 66-69-76-75

287 - Hendrik Buhrmann (RSA) 71-73-72-71

288 - Amandeep Johl (IND) 74-72-72-70, Lu Wen-teh (TPE) 70-74-73-71, David Gleeson (AUS) 72-72-71-73, Nico Van Rensburg (RSA) 73-73-68-74, David Kang (KOR) 68-72-73-75

289 - Lai Hung-lin (TPE) 72-74-72-71, Adam Fraser (AUS) 72-71-73-73, Wang Ter-chang (TPE) 71-72-70-76

290 - Anura Rohana (SRI) 71-75-73-71, Digvijay Singh (IND) 69-76-72-73, Gerald Rosales (PHI) 67-72-75-76

291 - Yoshinobu Tsukada (JPN) 72-72-76-71, Zheng Wen-gen (CHN) 71-76-73-71, Anthony Kang (USA) 68-75-75-73, Pat Giles (AUS) 71-71-75-74.-AFP