Prom, a two-time Asian Tour winner, who is playing on a sponsor’s invitation this week, started his final day four shots back of the lead.

He hauled himself quickly back into contention by firing seven birdies on holes two, six, seven, 10, 11, 12 and 15 before dropping his only shot of the day on hole 16 at the US$75,000 Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.

Prom’s four-day total of 20-under-par 260 was enough for him to force his way into a play-off with Sekito, who stunned the field with an impressive 61 in regulation play at The Empire Hotel and Country Club.

The duo went head-to-head on the first play-off hole held on 18 but both of them had to settle for pars after missing their birdie attempts. Sekito had an opportunity to win on the second extra hole but narrowly missed a 10-footer and settled for par with Prom.

The play-off was then moved to the ninth hole where Prom eventually triumphed after striking a solid approach to eight-feet and rolling a decisive putt in for birdie. Naoki settled for second place after failing to make birdie from off the green.

“I had a birdie on hole 15 and was three-shots clear of the field. I thought it was good enough, but I didn’t expect to make that bogey on hole 16 and for Naoki to birdie the last two holes.

“But I am glad to have won on the third play-off hole, it was a great fight. That last approach shot on the ninth hole was probably the best iron shot of the week for me,” said Prom.

With good friend Kiradech Aphibarnrat withdrawn from the event due to a knee injury, Prom was pleased to have won the title on his behalf. He will take home a winner’s purse US$13,125 and a minimum of six Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.

“It always feels great winning a golf tournament especially playing on an invite this week it’s an honour to win this event. Kiradech won last year and it’s a shame he didn’t get to play all four rounds.

“I told him after the second round that I would try and defend the title for him and I am glad I was able to keep to my word,” added Prom, who is nicknamed ‘Big Dolphin’ due to his burly physique and because he hails from the coast town of Hua Hin.

Despite missing out on back-to-back ADT victories since making his breakthrough last week, the 21-year-old Sekito took pride in his flawless round highlighted by nine birdies, which marked his personal-best round since joining the play-for-pay ranks in 2017.

“61 is my best score and I am very happy to have broken my personal-best record. I did my best, especially losing to Prom in a play-off. He did really well. I have no regrets this week and it is looking like a good season for me.  I hope to continue on this momentum and take one of the seven spots on the ADT Order of Merit,” said Sekito, who moved up to second place on the ADT Order of Merit.

The Organising Committee of the Butra Heidelberg Cement Brunei Championships announced a charity drive through its “Birdies for Charity” program at the start of the week. A total of 947 birdies were recorded after four rounds and through the generous contributions of its donors, the program received a total of B$11,000.

All pledges will go directly to the Dana Pengiran Musa Mahkota Al-Muhtadee Billah for Orphans and the Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam.

Leading final round scores:

260 – Prom Meesawat 66 68 62 64, Naoki Sekito 68 67 64 61

264 – Austen Truslow 65 67 64 68

265 – Wang Wei-lun 66 68 64 67

266 – Tawit Polthai 65 64 63 74

268 – Sarit Suwannarut 66 68 67 67, Casey O’Toole 65 69 65 69

Estrada dominated most of the fight, outboxing Srisaket and winning the majority of the rounds on the judges’ scorecards at the Forum arena in Los Angeles.

The 32-year-old Srisaket looked slow and flatfooted early on compared to the confident Estrada who welcomed the toe-to-toe exchanges in the centre of the ring.

There were no knockdowns but Estrada landed a powerful overhand right in the eighth that rocked Srisaket’s head back. He won by scores of 116-112, and 115-113 twice.

Srisaket, who fights mainly as a southpaw, looked strongest in the final two rounds when he seemed to be re-energized after switching from an orthodox to a lefty stance.

Estrada appeared to slow near the end of the 12-round fight when he got caught with some solid punches by the Thai champ. But the Mexican survived and won the fight based on his superior performance throughout the first 10 rounds.

A former WBA and WBO champion in the flyweight division, Estrada improved to 39-3 with 26 knockouts. Coming into Friday’s bout Estrada had won twice since losing to Srisaket in their first fight in February of last year.

The loss snapped Srisaket’s 20-fight win streak as he dropped to 47-5 with one draw and 41 knockouts. This was the fourth defence of the title he won in a stunning upset over Nicaragua’s Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez in 2017 in his US debut in New York.

It was Srisaket’s first loss in five years.

On the undercard, Danny Roman unified the WBA and IBF super bantamweight titles by defeating TJ Doheny by a majority decision. Roman won by scores of 116-110, 116-110 and 113-113.

Roman, 27-2 with one draw and 10 knockouts, has won 19 fights in a row since dropping a 2013 decision to American Juan Reyes.

Mexico’s unbeaten Rey Vargas, the 33-0 WBC champion, is believed to be next on Roman’s radar.

Jurgen Klopp’s side struck three times in the first half at Anfield, with Keita bagging Liverpool’s fastest ever Premier League goal before Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah also got on the scoresheet.

Mane and Salah netted again in the second half to move the Reds two points clear of second placed Manchester City, who will regain pole position if they win at Burnley on Sunday.

The lead at the top of the table has now changed hands for a record 29th time as this memorable season heads for a thrilling conclusion.

Unfazed by City’s crucial win at Manchester United on Wednesday, Liverpool are keeping their end of the bargain in their chase for a first English title in 29 years.

Liverpool required just seconds to demonstrate that the chances of an upset from already relegated Huddersfield were non-existent.

Their goal-spree also ate into the eight-goal deficit by which they trailed City in the goal difference column before kick-off.

Keita started the rout with the first of those goals, Liverpool’s quickest of the Premier League era, an effort which showcased so much of their high-pressing energy and effort.

Goalkeeper Jonas Lossl played a pass out of the Huddersfield area to Jon Goren Stankovic, who was immediately closed down by Keita and robbed of the ball.

The midfielder quickly exchanged passes with Salah and advanced into the area before beating Lossl with an accomplished 15-yard finish, despite the attempts of Stankovic to recover.

There followed some moments of minor anxiety for home supporters, although the nerves were clearly not shared by their players and, on 23 minutes, the lead was predictably doubled.

Full-back Andy Robertson appeared on the end of a patient, intricate passing move, lobbed in a magnificent left-wing cross and Mane split his markers to head in his 11th goal in his last 13 games.

– Incredible contributions –

Daniel Sturridge, starting for the first time in the calendar year, and Jordan Henderson both shot disappointingly over.

But, in first-half stoppage-time, Klopp’s side put the result beyond doubt.

It came from the pass of the evening, from right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold just inside his own half, whose magnificently-weighted ball hung perfectly in the swirling Anfield wind for Salah, who arrived ahead of Lossl and lobbed the ball over the advancing goalkeeper’s head.

It continued the incredible contributions made by both full-backs to Liverpool’s attacking cause this season, with Robertson having produced his 10th Premier League assist and Alexander-Arnold his ninth in that dominant first period.

Alisson Becker saved well from a shot by Juninho Bacuna, but the second half was simply a question of how many more goals Liverpool could score.

Mane added his 20th league goal of the season on 65 minutes as he headed in impressively from six yards via another excellent cross, this one from Jordan Henderson.

A successful evening for Klopp and his team continued as he was able to bring on England midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, out for 12 months with knee ligament injury, as a 73rd minute substitute.

He almost scored within minutes, taking a through ball from fellow sub Xherdan Shaqiri and showing clever footwork before shooting straight at Lossl.

Shaqiri nearly set up a hat-trick for Mane, whose header hit the post.

And it was Shaqiri who also started the move for the 83rd minute fifth goal, finding Robertson whose cross was turned in from point-blank range by Salah.

The 25-year-old Thai, who entered the round with a three-shot lead, extended his advantage to four with his three-day total of 18-under-par 192 at the US$75,000 event.

Thai star Prom Meesawat, who is playing on a sponsor’s invitation, posted a sizzling 62 to share second place with American Austen Truslow (64) while Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-lun (64) trails Tawit by six shots in fourth place at The Empire Hotel and Country Club.

Tawit, who traded eight birdies against one bogey, had a hot putter to thank for after navigating around the greens in 22 putts.

“My putting was really good today, I was making a lot of putts from 15-feet. I just stuck to my game plan even though I knew a lot of the guys were chasing me from behind,” he said.

The Thai relishes the opportunity to play with his idol Prom and will continue to adopt a relaxed approach in the final round as he stays on track for a maiden Asian Development Tour (ADT) win.

“I just want to have fun tomorrow, it will be the first time I am playing in the final group and I am excited to be playing with Prom tomorrow,” added Tawit.

Prom made a fast start on “moving day” with five birdies in his opening nine holes to make the turn in 30. He notched birdies on holes 11,12, 14 and 15 before dropping a shot on hole 17 for an inward 32.

“I was hitting it well and was confident in my irons so I was able to give myself a lot of birdie opportunities today. I wouldn’t count hole 17 as a mistake because I hit a good drive but if it was just one yard longer, it would have crossed the water hazard.

“This isn’t a long course, so with my distance, I had to take risks like that. Tawit will be the man to catch and I am excited for the challenge tomorrow,” added Prom, a two-time Asian Tour winner.

Leading third round scores:

192 – Tawit Polthai (THA) 65-64-63.

196 – Prom Meesawat (THA) 66-68-62, Austen Truslow (USA) 65-67-64.

198 – Wang Wei-lun (TPE) 66-68-64.

199 – Naoki Sekito (JPN) 68-67-64, Casey O’Toole (USA) 65-69-65.

201 – Suttijet Kooratanapisan (THA) 69-66-66, Sarit Suwannarut (THA) 66-68-67.

The 26-year-old shot a closing 69 to win on 13 under-par-203 –  but she was made to wait.

She was cruising to victory with a three-shot lead over Chorphaka Jaengkit with two holes to play when bad weather suspended play for almost two hours.

Both returned to bogey the 17th but Chonlada then regained her concentration and holed a 15-foot birdie putt at the last to clinch her first ever local victory.

“A load of pressure has gone now as I had never won in Thailand before,” said Chonlada, who had won two overseas events, including the CTBC Ladies Open in Taiwan last October. “Now I’m happy to finally get it done.”

She admitted that the pressure of wanting to make a breakthrough in her own country had bothered her at the start of the round as she dropped two shots in the first five holes.

“I was struggling at the front nine. I didn’t make easy putts. I was so nervous and couldn’t control myself,” she admitted. “Then after I saw other girls shoot scores and try to catch up, I pushed myself to play better. Four straight birdies [holes 12-15] really helped me regain my momentum and confidence,” added Chonlada, who is Bt142,500 richer for her success.

Chonlada’s goal is to play this season in Thailand, the Philippines and Taiwan but she was also considering adding events in Japan in accordance with advice from her mother.

Chorphaka was runner-up after finishing with a 67 to be on nine-under 207 for her three rounds.

Amateur Chanoknan and Ornnicha Konsunthea were tied at third, each on 209.

Ferrer is set to retire after the Madrid Open next month and made a tearful exit on what was his 15th and final appearance at this tournament.

But there was no room for sentiment for Nadal, who won 6-3, 6-3 to take one step closer to a record 12th Barcelona title.

Four of those triumphs came after beating Ferrer in the final and, at the end of this latest victory, Nadal’s 37-year-old opponent saluted the crowd before placing his pink headband down on the service line.

“David is not retiring because of his level but it has been a complicated year and a half for him with injuries,” Nadal said.

“His level this year has still been very high and for all these years he’s been fighting hard and giving us pleasure watching him. We are all grateful to him.”

Ferrer reached a career-high ranking of number three in the world in 2013, the same year he went closest to winning a Grand Slam too, undone by Nadal again in the French Open final.

“I gave everything I had,” added Ferrer. “I’m very happy, it’s a dream come true to play one of my last matches on this court.”

Nadal will be gunning for his 12th success at Roland Garros next month and this was more like the sort of form expected of the world number two, who had won 30 consecutive sets in Barcelona before falling one behind to Leonardo Mayer on Wednesday.

“I had to majorly improve,” Nadal added. “I need to step up, play with more energy and a different attitude.”

Nadal will now face Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, who knocked out fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, before a potential semi-final meeting with Dominic Thiem, whom he beat in the French Open final last year.

Fourth seed Kei Nishikori is also through after beating Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets.

Nadal broke Ferrer for 4-2 in the opening set and was serving for it at 5-3 when rain delayed the match for almost an hour.

But the stoppage could not change the momentum, with Nadal quickly wrapping up the frame upon his return before breaking again early in the second.

Ferrer offered some brief resistance, a backhand winner restoring parity at 2-2 but Nadal raced ahead as a forehand pass and half-volley put him 5-3 in front.

He missed three match points but converted the fourth before finally embracing an emotional Ferrer at the net, around them a standing ovation.