Miñoza joint 2nd in Thailand Masters

MANILA, Philippines - Frankie Miñoza carded a 71 and finished second again to Boonchu Ruangkit although this time by a wide margin as the Thai ace ran away with a record 11-point romp with a dominating performance in the Chang Thailand Seniors Masters at the Royal Gems Golf Club in Nakhonpathorn, Thailand yesterday.

Ruangkit closed out with a sterling seven-under 65 to pick up his second straight victory after nipping Miñoza in a playoff to claim the Brunei Seniors Masters title in Brunei last week. He wound up with a 21-under 195 to become the first player since England’s Peter Mitchell in 2008 to score successive Senior Tour victories.

Miñoza, who started the final round five shots behind Ruangkit after a 65, tried to press his bid with a birdie on the opening hole but fumbled with a double-bogey on the next and spent the rest of the day trying to salvage a second straight runner-up honors.

He did with that 71 but the Filipino shotmaker had to share second place with Katsuyoshi Tomoi of Japan (69) and Thai Jamnian Chitprasong (73) with similar 10-under 206s.

The 50-year-old Miñoza birdied No. 9 for the third straight day but had only one other birdie at the back against a slew of pars for a 36-35 round.

But Ruangkit was simply awesome. After matching Miñoza’s opening birdie, he rammed in five straight linking both nines, starting his binge on No. 8 before adding two more on Nos. 15 and 18 that negated his lone bogey mishap in the day on No. 16.