Fabrizio Zanotti completed a brilliant final round with a birdie-eagle finish to claim a one-shot victory at the Maybank Championship on Sunday as the Paraguayan stormed to his second European Tour title.
The 33-year-old trailed overnight leader Danny Willett by six shots at the start of the day, aware that only a faultless 18 holes were required to capture a first win since he triumphed in a playoff at the 2014 BMW International Open.
He duly obliged, scorching the Saujana Golf and Country Club course with a bogey-free round of nine-under-par 63 to finish with a 72-hole total of 19-under.
As U.S. Masters champion Willett let slip his three-shot advantage, David Lipsky emerged as Zanotti’s closest rival but the American failed to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker for a birdie at the last that would have forced a playoff.
“It was a great effort, a great day for me. I am really happy,” Zanotti said in a post-round interview after Lipsky’s 12-foot birdie putt stopped short of the cup and confirmed his title.
Lipsky carded a 67 to finish on 18-under, one stroke ahead of Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger and two clear of France’s Alexander Levy.
Willett, who has yet to win since his triumph at Augusta last April, never found any consistency and a bogey at the last completed a disappointing one-over round that dropped him into a share of fifth place alongside China’s Li Haotong.
