Thailand's Panuphol wins home-in-one

[February 13, 2015]  (Reuters) - Panuphol Pittayarat might not have done enough over the last two days to make the weekend cut at the Thailand Classic but the Thai will leave the Black Mountain Golf Club on Friday having secured the keys to a 12 million baht ($368,211) townhouse.

The 22-year-old aced the 192-yard par-three 14th hole in his second round to win one of the townhouses currently being built alongside the ninth fairway on the course.

"I feel like I've won this golf tournament!" Panuphol said after winning the four-storey, three-bedroom townhouse. "I hit the ball to the right and it was a good shot.

"I saw the ball just gone and I wasn't sure if it had gone in. But one of the guys ran up and he said there's no golf ball on the greens.

"So I started yelling. It was out of my mind. Six-iron is now my friend."
 

Panuphol, nicknamed 'Coconut' shot an erratic one-under-par 71 in the second round, consisting of the eagle, four birdies, three bogeys and also a double bogey.

The second round took his two-day total to two-over, after a 75 on Thursday, below the cut set at two-under in the $2 million tournament, co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.

"I'm still shaking after finishing 18 holes. I didn't really think I would ace that hole. It's the second time I got a hole-in-one in my career," he added.

"All I got the first time was two shots but this time I really got something! I've seen the pictures of the house every day since I arrived here.

"And now it's mine!"

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

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