After laying off from the game for three weeks to rest an injured right knee, the big-hitting Kiradech brilliantly closed with his season’s lowest round of 7-under 64 at Trinity Forest Golf Club to finish T5 on the PGA TOUR.

His 17-under 267 aggregate, which was also his best total score all year, moved him up to 61^st position on the latest FedExCup points list and should bump him up by a few rungs from his present 18^th position on the International Team rankings for the Presidents Cup against the United States at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Australia later this year.

Kiradech, the first Thai to hold a PGA TOUR card, led the Strokes Gained: Putting stats category during a weather-disrupted week where he sank seven birdies in the final round without dropping a bogey.

“I’m rolling the ball quite well this week. If you look at the stats, I was very consistent and I had good speed and rolled the ball on line,” said a delighted Kiradech, whose previous two top-5s were at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China and WGC-Mexico Championship.

The Thai finished six shots behind winner Sung Kang, who became the 10^th Korean-born player to win on the PGA TOUR following his two-shot victory. Kang’s triumph came three weeks after Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan won the RBC Heritage.

Kiradech’s high finish following his short break to nurse a sprained knee suffered at the Masters Tournament has set him up nicely ahead of the year’s second major, the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black this week.

The jovial Thai said he kept his expectations low as he didn’t know what to expect after  taking time off from the game. “This week, I just came out to enjoy the game, get a feel of the ball,” he said.

“I’m quite surprised with the result as I had three weeks off without hitting a golf ball. When you play with freedom, it helps. Sometimes you don’t know what will happen after you don’t hit the ball for a while.

“I kept seeing the ball roll on line and I could imagine the speed. Keep doing what I’m doing right now and hopefully it will carry on next week,” added Kiradech.

This week’s appearance at the PGA Championship will be his sixth, with a T25 in 2013 being his best result. Kiradech finished T49 at the Masters last month.

Liverpool beat Wolves 2-0 at Anfield on Sunday thanks to two goals from Sadio Mane, but City came from behind to win 4-1 at Brighton and retain their title by a single point.

It meant Liverpool ended the season on 97 points, the third-highest tally in Premier League history, but fell agonisingly short of securing their first English top-flight title since 1990.

“Congratulations to Manchester City,” Liverpool boss Klopp told the BBC. “We tried everything to make it as difficult as possible but not difficult enough. I couldn’t be more proud of the boys.

“It’s incredible what they did all season and today was a strange situation. We were really good until 1-0, what happened then was clear. You can’t tell the people to calm down.”

City trailed for 83 seconds after Glenn Murray’s first-half header for Brighton, briefly putting Liverpool two points clear at the top as it stood, but Pep Guardiola’s side fought back to ultimately win with ease.

“At that moment (when Liverpool fans celebrated Brighton’s goal) it was a shock for everyone and Wolves were there,” added Klopp.

“We had to fight. In the end we scored two and kept a clean sheet. It’s nice but not how we wanted it.

“It’s clear we had to work hard and City too. Our target during the week was to get 97 points, we got that — that’s special. We want to write our own history and we did.

“Today feels not so good but we have plenty of time to prepare for an important game in three weeks (Champions League final).”

– ‘We’ll be there again’ –

Klopp hailed his team’s progress in the past year, having needed a 4-0 victory over Brighton on the final day of last season just to finish fourth.

“The boys were all there from last season apart from (goalkeeper) Alisson,” he said. “He had a big impact but all the rest were here last season.

“It’s a very special season, a better season than I played with my team (Borussia Dortmund) when we were champions in Germany. But we cannot ignore one team were better.

“It’s clear we were lucky in moments, like City were. We were unlucky against City but scored in the last second against Everton and late on against Newcastle, they could have been draws as well…

“They (City) have 198 points in two years, that’s special. We made such big steps. It’s only the first step. Always after a good year we lost key players (in the past) but we won’t (this time) so we’ll be there again.”

Liverpool could yet be crowned European champions for a sixth time if they beat English rivals Tottenham in the Champions League final in Madrid on June 1.

And Klopp told Sky Sports: “We have three weeks to prepare for the Champions League final — let’s give it a go.”

The world number one joined Rafael Nadal on top of the all-time Masters list when he swept to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final in the Spanish capital.

“At this very important time for me in the season, the win gives me a lot of confidence prior to Rome and, of course, Roland Garros where I definitely want to play my best,” said the 15-time major winner.

Djokovic dominated a clearly exhausted Tsitsipas less than 24 hours after the 20-year-old Greek had stunned five-time champion Nadal in a semi-final which ended around midnight on Saturday.

Djokovic and Nadal will now attempt to claim a 34th Masters title in Rome this week in a key indicator ahead of Roland Garros which gets under way on May 26.

Djokovic credits a keys wins in Madrid with helping him to his first final since winning the Australian Open three months ago.

He will be bidding to collect his fourth consecutive title at a Grand Slam when he plays in Paris where he was also champion in 2016.

“This win was very important for my level of confidence because after the Australian Open I wasn’t playing my best,” he said.

“I wasn’t finding the right game and the consistency on the court in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo.

“I felt like I was close and needed a little bit of a push, which came yesterday against Dominic Thiem in the semi-final in a very close match.”

Djokovic never let Tsitsipas get into gear in a final which lasted just over 90 minutes

The Greek, who beat Djokovic in their previous meeting last summer in Canada, was broken once in each set, enough of a margin for the top seed to take the trophy, his second of the season after the Australian  Open.

The Serb still needed four match points to get the job done with Tsitsipas finally beaten when Djokovic sent a winning volley into the corner.

“He has the best backhand that I have ever seen in a human being,” said Tsitsipas of his opponent.

“He controls it so well. He can play cross, he can play down the line the same way. And that’s very difficult to deal with.

“He deserved the victory, he played unbelievable. I couldn’t do much.”

Tsitsipas was playing his second Masters 1000 final after losing to Nadal in Toronto last August.

Pep Guardiola’s team won 4-1 at Brighton to finish with 98 points — the second-highest total in Premier League history — as Liverpool beat Wolves 2-0 at Anfield to finish a single, agonising, point adrift.

City, who strung together 14 league wins at the end of the season, are the first side to retain the title since their bitter rivals Manchester United managed the feat in 2009, and remain on course for the first domestic treble in English football history.

But Guardiola’s team did not have it all their own way as they won a fourth English title in eight seasons and the sixth in the club’s history.

A day of drama on England’s south coast was in keeping with an astonishing season in which the lead switched hands time after time.

Liverpool drew first blood on Sunday, with Sadio Mane striking in the 17th minute to put them mathematically top of the table and on course for their first English top-flight title since 1990, before the Premier League era even started.

City fans’ nerves were shredded even further when Glenn Murray put Brighton in front from a corner in the 27th minute, drawing a huge roar at Anfield.

But those cheers were quickly muted, with Guardiola’s side level just 83 seconds later, Sergio Aguero staying onside and keeping his cool to finish after a brilliant ball from David Silva.

Ten minutes later, the unmarked Aymeric Laporte rose to head in Riyad Mahrez’s corner to complete the turnaround for City and second-half goals from Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan put the result beyond doubt.

– ‘Hardest Premier League’ –

“We have to say congratulations to Liverpool and thank you so much –- they pushed us to increase our standards,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.

“It’s incredible, 98 points, to go back-to-back. We made the standard higher last season and Liverpool helped us –- to win this title we had to win 14 in a row. We couldn’t lose one point.”

“It’s the toughest title we have won in all my career, by far,” added the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss.

City jetted back north to celebrate with around 10,000 of their own fans at their Etihad Stadium late into the evening, with supporters singing along to “Wonderwall” by Oasis.

Players took it in turns to hoist the Premier League trophy, with club captain Vincent Kompany and Guardiola last to lift it, together.

“I’m so, so proud,” said Kompany as the party got underway at 22:45 local time. “This team is amazing. We’re able to fill this place at this time of night. Thank you so much.”

City finished a record 19 points clear of Manchester United last season, but this term has been a totally different campaign.

Guardiola’s side had to dig deep to see off the relentless challenge of Liverpool, who lost just one Premier League game all season.

The outcome was cruel on Liverpool, who are second behind only United in the all-time list of English champions with 18 titles.

– Klopp vow –

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp praised City but vowed his side would be back.

“City got the points they have because we were there,” he told the BBC.

“They have 198 points in two years, that’s special. We made such big steps. It’s only the first step. Always after a good year we lost key players (in the past) but we won’t (this time) so we’ll be there again.”

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah shared the Premier League Golden Boot award with teammate Mane and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after they all scored 22 goals.

The Merseysiders’ points tally is the third-highest in Premier League history.

Klopp’s side travelled to face City at the Etihad in January with the chance to open up a 10-point lead but the defending champions won 2-1 in what turned out to be the pivotal match of the campaign.

Liverpool suffered a blip in late January and February, held to a series of draws, but they found their form again and relentlessly harried City, finishing with nine straight league wins.

Klopp’s team will have to put the disappointment behind them as they prepare to face Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League final in Madrid on June 1.

Elsewhere on the final day of Premier League action, Spurs made mathematically certain of a place in the top four, drawing 2-2 against Everton.

Arsenal beat Burnley 3-1 while fellow Europa League finalists Chelsea were held to a goalless draw at Leicester but secured third place.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United finished their season with a whimper, losing 2-0 at home to relegated Cardiff — a side he once managed.

There were also wins for Crystal Palace, Newcastle and West Ham. Southampton and relegated Huddersfield drew 1-1.

Surat Thani-based Prawit crossed the line first in 1:26.58  hours, several minutes ahead of Rattananit Buathong who had to be content with the second best with his time of 1:30.25 hours. It was one of his biggest wins after he won the 10km event at this tournament last year.

“I’m quite happy with my time with an average of 4.12 minute per kilometer,” said the 44-year-old worker of a palm oil company. “I did quite well judging from the tough route with so many hills. My strategy is to run with short step on the hills,” added Prawit a former National Junior Games athlete who had to resume running when he was diagnosed with allergy five years ago.

“I couldn’t breathe properly back then. Doctor suggested I should exercise get rid of allergy. I also stopped smoking and drinking from then on,” said Prawit whose has his eyes firmly fixed on a full marathon in Hat Yai on May 26.

“I used this event as a  warm up before my first full marathon tournament. I train quite hard every day ( two in the morning and three in the afternoon) to make sure that I can compete with others,” Prawit added.

In the women’s event, Nikitas of Ukraine produced her personal best of 1:32.36 hours to beat Thailand’ , Naleewan Rattanaphan who came far second in 1:47.22 hours.

“I’m quite happy because this is the best time for me in 21km. I spend six months in Thailand for running and the rest of the year in Ukraine,” said the 36-year-old from Laviv who has posed top three finishes in nine events over the past five months. She also won in Surat Thani and Phannga ahead of the Sunday’s victory.

More than 3,500 athletes competed in the opening stop of all six Bangkok Airways Boutique Series. The next series is due in Samui on June 2 while the remaining four are in Lampang on July 7, Phuket on August 4, Chiang Rai on September 15 and Chiang Mai  on November 3

City lead by a single point, so to get their hands on the trophy Liverpool will have to become the first team in the history of Europe’s richest domestic club competition to move above the leaders on the final day.

Pep Guardiola’s City are firm favourites to retain the title as they travel to Brighton, a team that narrowly avoided relegation. Liverpool take on Wolves at Anfield, dreaming of a second dramatic turnaround in a week after the memorable 4-0 win against Barcelona on Tuesday that propelled them into the Champions League final.

The last team to start the final day in first place and not win the title were in fact Liverpool in 1989, when Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Anfield clinched the old First Division.

Whichever club does win will have earned the trophy the hard way.

City, on 95 points, have won their past 13 Premier League matches to wipe out a seven-point lead for Liverpool and are on the brink of becoming the first team to win successive titles since Manchester United in 2009.

Klopp’s men, with 94 points, have recovered from a mid-season stumble to record eight straight victories.

To underline the two clubs’ dominance, third-placed Chelsea only have 71 points going into their final game against Leicester City.

Liverpool, who have been English champions 18 times but have not won since the 1989-1990 season, face the scarcely credible scenario of ending the season with the third-highest points tally in Premier League history and a single defeat yet still missing out.

Abu Dhabi-owned City look almost certain to finish off the job and Guardiola said he has so much faith in his players that a pre-match team-talk will not be necessary.

“I don’t have to say anything to motivate them. I think my speech on Sunday will be zero,” he said.

“They want to win the Premier League. From what I saw in the training sessions, they want to win it, knowing that we can lose it.

“We saw in the Champions League in the last week why this game is amazing. But we want to win. So we are going to go out there at Brighton to try to win the game.”

If City only draw and Liverpool beat Wolves, it would hand the title to the Reds.

City cannot quite match the record 100 points they mustered last season but they have shown their ability to dig deep in recent weeks.

Guardiola’s side have racked up 91 goals this season, but three of their past four wins have been 1-0 victories, including the nervy match against Leicester on Monday settled by a Vincent Kompany strike. It kept City on course for a historic domestic treble, which would underline their status as the dominant force in the English game.

– ‘It’s not in our hands’ –

Klopp will have to re-focus his players’ minds after their heroics against Barcelona as they cling to the hope that City will slip up against Brighton.

“We think about Wolves now,” said Klopp, who despite his stellar reputation has not won a major trophy since 2012.

“(Barcelona) was for sure one of the best moments in football history, not only Liverpool. But it has nothing to do with the weekend except that we should be confident.”

The Liverpool narrative has changed dramatically since they humiliated Lionel Messi’s Spanish giants amid ecstatic scenes at Anfield.

Even if they fall short on Sunday they have the chance to become champions of Europe for a sixth time if they beat fellow Premier League club Tottenham in Madrid on June 1.

Regardless of whether Liverpool finish the weekend on top, Klopp insists he is happy with his team’s progress after four years in charge.

“Sunday is our last Premier League game. If we can win it, it’s not in our hands what we get, but it doesn’t make our season a little bit less good. It’s just a different finish,” he said.

Behind the front two, all the issues in the Premier League are virtually done and dusted.

Barring a spectacular swing in goal difference, Tottenham will finish above Arsenal and mathematically secure the remaining Champions League spot alongside Chelsea, while the highest Manchester United can finish is fifth.

Wolves, in seventh place, cannot be caught and will earn a Europa League spot provided Watford do not beat City in the FA Cup final.

Fixtures

Sunday (1400 GMT)

Brighton v Manchester City, Burnley v Arsenal, Crystal Palace v Bournemouth, Fulham v Newcastle, Leicester v Chelsea, Liverpool v Wolves, Manchester United v Cardiff, Southampton v Huddersfield, Tottenham v Everton, Watford v West Ham

With his mother and wife following him throughout the final round, Asaji, who earned his spot by topping the Monday Qualifiers, kept his composure as he held on to his overnight lead to eventually close with a one-over-par 72.

Asaji’s winning total of three-under-par 281 also earned him a spot at The 148th Open which will be held at Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland in July.

The Japanese was chasing his first professional victory and admitted he also had a stroke of luck with his closest rivals failing to dislodge him from the leaderboard’s summit.

Micah Lauren Shin of the United States tried to surmount a late charge but dropped three shots in his inward-nine and had to settle for a share of second place with Japanese amateur Ren Yonezawa.

New Zealand’s Danzel Ieremia and Korea’s Y.E. Yang were tied for fourth while Zimbabwean Scott Vincent secured another top-10 by sharing sixth place with Korea’s Dongkyu Jang.

The Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup was the Asian Tour’s first stop in Japan this season and second of four co-sanctioned events with the Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO) this year.

Did you know?

• Yosuke Asaji turned professional in 2012. Prior to his breakthrough, his best result at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup came in 2017 when he finished tied-10th.
• Asaji secured a spot at this week’s Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup when he topped the Monday Qualifiers where three spots were allocated for this week’s event.
• Micah Lauren Shin is based in Davao and came through Qualifying School in 2017. He made his breakthrough that same year when he won the Resorts World Manila Masters.
• Shin’s tournament winner’s exemption ends this season and he needs to finish inside the top-60 on the Order of Merit to keep his card.
• Shin’s tied-second finish this week was his best result since his victory in Manila in 2017. His previous best results after his breakthrough were two top-10s in Hong Kong in 2017 and 2018.
• In 2012, Lu Wei-chih underwent brain surgery to remove a non-malignant tumour which put him out of action for close to a year.
• Although he posted only one top-10 in the subsequent seasons upon his return, Lu was simply relieved he could compete again after his major health scare.
• All of Lu’s four victories on the Asian Tour have come from home soil in Chinese Taipei.
• It was another top-10 finish for Scott Vincent after finishing fourth in Perth earlier this year.
• Vincent came through Qualifying School in 2016. He did not miss a single cut in six tournaments that year and in 2017, he notched three top-three results to finish in 17th place on the Merit rankings to retain his playing rights.
• He finished fifth on the Habitat for Humanity Standings in 2018, thanks to nine top-10 results – the most number of top-10s made by a player without a win last season.

Players’Quotes

Yosuke Asaji (Jpn) Fourth round 72 (+1), Total 281 (-3)

I’m really happy as this is my first professional victory and it was such a tough battle out there today. I was up against so many quality players and I had to play my best golf. I was also lucky some of them did not manage to catch me. But I got a lot of support from everyone this week especially my wife and my mother who are here with me this week. It’s mother’s day today and I’m happy I’m able to deliver the best gift to my mother on this special day. It’s unbelievable I’m also going to The Open now with this victory. This is truly a very special week for me, starting from getting through the Monday qualifiers, to winning the tournament and now playing in my first Major.

Micah Lauren Shin (Usa) Fourth round 72 (+1), Total 282 (-2)

Of course it’s disappointing as I really tried my best to catch him (Asaji). But I wasn’t driving it so well today and it was tough. When I stepped up to the tee this morning, I just told myself I got to get the ball on the fairway because if I can do it, I’ll have a good chance for at least a par or birdie. I haven’t been playing well lately and I needed a result like this to boost my confidence. So if I can look on the bright side, I know I have the game to do well and hopefully, this is the start of better things to come.

Scott Vincent (Zim) Fourth round 72 (+1), Total 284 (Ev)

It’s a great week obviously I have been struggling for a bit of form recently and it’s nice to come out here and feel the pressure and the nerves of being in contention, so I’m really happy with how it went. I got a little bit to work on but it’s moving in the right direction. Yes, the second round I played great I just had a really bad finish, I don’t know why I made a couple of poor choices but what was really encouraging was just being able to play well on the third day and get yourself right back in it and then you know, anything can happen today. We got another four weeks in Japan after this so I’m looking forward to being in one place for a change.

Lu Wei-chih (Tpe) Fourth round 72 (+1), Total 285 (+1)

I’m really happy with my performance this year. It was a tough course but I showed that I can still play well despite the challenging conditions. I had a disappointing start at the beginning of the year but I feel my game is slowly coming back together especially after a week like this. It’s wonderful to have my wife and daughter here with me in Japan this week. Their presence has given me lots of motivation to play even better and it feels like I’m playing at home with them here by my side.

Leading scores after round 4 of the Asia Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup being played at the par 71, 7333 Yards Sobu Country Club course (am – denotes amateur):

281 – Yosuke Asaji (JPN) 69-72-68-72.

282 – Ren Yonezawa (am, JPN) 69-74-71-68, Micah Lauren Shin (USA) 71-67-72-72.

283 – Y.E. Yang (KOR) 69-71-72-71, Denzel Ieremia (NZL) 76-68-66-73.

284 – Dongkyu Jang (KOR) 72-69-73-70, Scott Vincent (ZIM) 71-73-68-72.

285 – Hosung Choi (KOR) 73-72-71-69, Tomoyo Ikemura (JPN) 68-72-73-72, Prayad Marksaeng (THA) 70-72-71-72, Lu Wei-chih (TPE) 71-71-71-72, Jinichiro Kozuma (JPN) 74-67-71-73.

286 – Sihwan Kim (USA) 72-74-71-69, Sadom Kaewkanjana (THA) 71-74-71-70, Kunihiro Kamii (JPN) 76-68-71-71.

Stefanos Tistsipas

Nadal had been a clear favourite to face Djokovic in Sunday’s showpiece at Caja Magica but the 17-time Grand Slam champion extended his stuttering build-up to the French Open with another surprise defeat.

Tsitsipas’ surprise victory means he reaches his fourth ATP final of the season while vindicating those that have him circled as a future star of the men’s game.

“Emotionally it was very tough, it was one of my toughest wins,” Tsitsipas said.

It might be too early to expect the world number nine to challenge at Roland Garros later this month but, with a fearless style and formidable forehand, he is developing a habit for delivering on the big stage.

He ousted Roger Federer from the Australian Open in January and, as well as Nadal, has beaten Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem, both twice, and Djokovic, whom he played on hard in Canada last year and prevailed in three sets.

Tsitsipas will draw confidence from that result ahead of the final but arguably even more so from overcoming Nadal, on clay, which Djokovic had earlier described as the “ultimate challenge” following his own 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4) victory over Dominic Thiem.

By his own high standards, Nadal’s clay-court swing has been disappointing.

He lost in the last four in both Monte Carlo and Barcelona, arriving in Madrid without winning either tournament for the first time since 2015.

“I have not played well enough,” admitted Nadal. “I’ve won a lot for many years on this surface but this year it hasn’t been like that.”

– Djokovic enhances Paris credentials –

Few would bet against the Spaniard claiming a 12th success in Paris but the showings of Djokovic, and Thiem, in this tournament suggests it is far from a foregone conclusion.

Djokovic enhanced his credentials as perhaps the greatest threat by edging past Thiem, who took down Nadal en route to clinching the trophy in Barcelona last month and had also knocked out Federer in the Madrid quarter-finals.

“I thought coming into the match, he was the favourite to win it,” Djokovic said. “So that’s why it’s a great win for me.”

Djokovic had also stuttered, enduring early exits in Indian Wells, Miami and then Monte Carlo, but Thiem found the 31-year-old close to his best.

It was a timely reminder of why Djokovic has won the last three Grand Slam titles and will hold all four concurrently by winning his 16th at the French Open.

“He’s getting back to his 100 percent again,” Thiem said. “The closer it comes to the Grand Slams, the better he’ll play and we are pretty close to the French Open.”

Nadal seemed to have the momentum after winning 13 out of 16 points at the end of the second set but he spurned two break points in the decider before Tsitsipas broke twice for 5-2.

Still Nadal fought back, breaking back once and then saving three match points, the last after a nerve-shredding drop-shot.

But a missed volley followed and, at the fourth time of asking, a relieved Tsitsipas finally got over the line when a weary Nadal backhand hit the net.

Djokovic proved too good in both tie-breaks against Thiem but offered the shot of the match at 4-4 in the first set.

Scrambling into his backhand corner, he not only retrieved the approach but turned it into a brilliant lob that landed on the opposite baseline. He is one win away from a 74th career title.

The 25-year-old Japanese is seeking his first professional win since joining the play-for-pay ranks in 2011 and knows he has to stay on top of his game despite taking the third round lead with his three-day total of four-under-par 209.

New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia, who comes from a family of sporting stars, made his move by firing a flawless 66 to share second place with Micah Lauren Shin of the United States.

Shin lost grip of his overnight lead after marking his card with two birdies, one bogey and a double bogey for a 72.

Zimbabwean Scott Vincent meanwhile returned with a 68 to give himself another chance for his maiden breakthrough on the Asian Tour.

Vincent, together with Korea’s Y.E. Yang, and Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma are bunched in fourth place, three shots back of Asaji.

The Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup is the Asian Tour’s first stop in Japan this season and second of four co-sanctioned events with the Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO) this year.