At the top of the leaderboard since posting a 9-under par round of 63 in Round 1, Dodt started Sunday’s final round with a one-shot buffer, the tournament reduced to 54 holes due to repeated weather delays on Friday and Saturday.

That lead stretched to three when Dodt birdied the opening two holes of his third round but after registering his first bogey of the week at the par-3 fourth began to wobble midway through the back nine.

He made bogey at the 419-metre par-4 13th when he failed to get up-and-down but it was the par-4 15th that saw Dodt drop from the lead with just three holes to play.

Out of position in the trees to the right of the fairway, Dodt was forced to punch out to the safety of the fairway with his second, a three-putt once on the green in three resulting in a costly double bogey and a one-shot deficit.

Showing tremendous mental strength, that deficit was wiped clean with a birdie at the par-4 16th and he narrowly missed having a one-shot lead heading to the final hole when his birdie putt at the par-3 17th hole took a chunk of the left edge of the cup before spinning out.

Par the par-5 18th earned a spot in the three-man playoff, Dodt matching Trevor Simsby’s birdie with a clutch putt from 10 feet at the opening playoff hole as American Jarin Todd dropped out.

Simsby set up another great look at birdie with a second shot to the apron fronting the green and Dodt was unable to get up-and-down after laying up in the fairway, his 16-footer sliding past the right edge as Simsby claimed his maiden Asian Tour title with a birdie putt from five feet rammed into the back of the hole.

“It was a good week. Just disappointed to finish it like that but all in all, it’s still a solid week,” Dodt told Asian Tour Media following the playoff.

“Thinking back about the double-bogey on 15, I made a good bounce-back with a birdie on 16. The birdie on 17th was also quite possible but didn’t make it.

“I tried to be aggressive out there today. It just got really hard on the back nine, mentally and physically. Still a lot of positives to take from this week.”

As Dodt moved up to sixth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with his runner-up finish, Wade Ormsby maintained his position at the top with a tie for 10th while Queensland amateur Lawry Flynn gave an indication of what’s to come in his professional career with a tie for 16th.

Playing in just his fourth professional tournament outside his home state, Flynn was 5-under through his first 12 holes and then recorded back-to-back eagles in a second round of 6-under 66, rounding out his week with a 1-under 71 that – like Thursday – featured a run of three straight birdies from 10-12.

Asian Tour
Bandar Malaysia Open
Kota Permai Golf & Country Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Event reduced to 54 holes due to rain

T2*        Andrew Dodt      63-68-72—203   $US86,500
T10        Wade Ormsby    71-65-70—206   $17,600
T16        Lawry Flynn (a)   71-66-71—208   ——–
T38        Josh Younger      67-74-70—211   $6,038
T38        Jake Higginbottom           69-73-69—211   $6,038
T47        Travis Smyth       70-73-69—212   $4,800
T58        Terry Pilkadaris  71-71-72—214   $3,150
MC         Marcus Fraser    74-70—144
MC         Daniel Fox           73-72—145
MC         Will Heffernan    70-75—145
MC         Adam Blyth         74-72—146
MC         Scott Strange      77-74—151
MC         Ben Eccles           76-75—151
* Lost on second hole of sudden-death playoff