KUALA LUMPUR: Naraajie Ramadhan Putra became only the second Indonesian golfer to win the Saujana Amateur Championship after 28 years yesterday.
The Saujana Golf and Country Club’s annual fixture last saw an Indonesian champion in Borhan Bora in 1991 but Naraajie put his country back on the map with a convincing five-stroke win over Australia’s Dylan Gardner, Taiwan’s Taichi Kho and Malaysia’s Muhd Afif Mohd Fathi.
Naarajie had led the pack with an opening two-under 70 and then followed up with an impressive six-under 66, to head into the final day with an eight-under 136.
“With such a big lead, I decided to play defensively, play lots of pars and let the pressure be on the rest instead,” he said.
“I felt the pressure too but I stuck to my strategy and let others do the work. I’m glad it worked out.”
Naraajie signed off with a 75 after losing two strokes in each of the nines.
Gardner, Kho and Afif took joint second on 216.
Last week’s Malaysian Amateur Championship Lawry Flynn of Australia finished joint fifth with Singapore’s Low Wee Jin after shooting a 217.