Jamie Donaldson shot a final-round 7-under par 65 to win the Thailand Golf Championship by three strokes over England’s Lee Westwood and France’s Clement Sordet. The Asian Tour event carried special weight as an Open Qualifying Series event granting Donaldson, Westwood, Sordet and Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai entry into the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon.
Khongwatmai, @DonaldsonJamie, @ClementSordet & @WestwoodLee qualify for #TheOpen in Thailand:https://t.co/ZZHqvMVlPb pic.twitter.com/pQy29lw9ob
— The Open (@TheOpen) December 13, 2015
For Donaldson and Westwood, the solid finishes have additional major championship implications. Both moved into the Official World Golf Ranking’s top-50, which come the year’s end will earn them an invite to the Masters.
Donaldson moved up to No. 43 in the world and Westwood now sits squarely at No. 50. With the PGA and European Tour schedules finished for 2015, Donaldson’s ticket to Augusta is all but punched. Westwood needs to avoid any movement inside the top-50 over the last two tournaments of the year — the Asian Tour’s Phillipines Open and the Asian Development Tour’s Boonchu Ruangkit Championship.
The only way Westwood could be knocked out of the top-50 is if the BRC invites an unannounced player close enough to the top-50 that could bump Westwood, according to the Augusta Chronicle’s Scott Michaux.
Other notable finishes at the Thailand Golf Championship included Sergio Garcia and Ben An tying for fourth, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Martin Kaymer tying for seventh, Matthew Fitzpatrick coming in 11th and Bubba Watson finishing 15th.
