Asian Tour: unheralded Maguire wins first title, as Catlin moves step closer to LIV Golf
Journeyman Michael Maguire beats John Catlin in play-off to secure Black Mountain Championship in Thailand.
John Catlin took another big step towards playing LIV Golf full time next season, but it was the unheralded Michael Maguire who walked away with the Black Mountain Championship trophy on Sunday.
The 31-year-old American drained a birdie on the 72nd hole to join Catlin on 23-under-par, and then beat his compatriot in a play-off to claim his first victory as a professional.
After a career where he has “played on every tour you can think of”, Maguire, who carded a seven-under-par 65 in his final round of the International Series event, had one of those days when everything went right, even when it seemed to be going wrong.
Trailing Catlin by one going down the last, Maguire found the greenside bunker, but then nearly chipped in for eagle, tapped in his birdie and watched his rival miss a 12-foot birdie chance of his own.
Facing defeat on the first play-off hole, he drained a 20-foot putt from off the green to take the pair back down the par-5 18th for a third time in the space of an hour.
In increasingly heavy rain, the pair both reached the green in four, but while Caitlin missed his 15-footer for par, Maguire made his from far closer.
