India's Rahil Gangjee suffered a late bumpy ride to finish tied ninth as England's Steve Lewton Sunday won his maiden Asian Tour title at the $650,000 Mercuries Taiwan Masters after closing with a one-under-par 71 and dedicated the win to his late father.
Starting the day at one-under 215, Gangjee ended at one-over 289. He has only has one tournament left to get back to top-10 on the Order of Merit and qualify for the lucrative CIMB Classic later this month.
Lewton held on to his overnight lead after posting five birdies against four bogeys for a five-under-par 283 total to win by two shots at the challenging Taiwan Golf and Country Club's Tamsui course.
Brazil's Adilson Da Silva and Filipino veteran Antonio Lascuna settled for a share of second place after carding identical 72s at the long-running Mercuries Taiwan Masters, which is celebrating its 28th edition this week.
Unho Park of Australia capped his best finish on the Asian Tour so far this season when he registered a 72 to take fourth place on 286 alongside 2004 Mercuries Taiwan Masters winner, Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand.
"It's been quite a tough year for me. I lost my father at the start of the year. He was diagnosed with bile cancer about two years ago and passed away earlier in January. He was my best friend and he was also an avid golfer," said Lewton, who pocketed $130,000 from his victory.
"He kept me going in golf when I was struggling in the past few years. It's a real shame that he's not here anymore to witness this but I'm sure he will be happy for me wherever he is," said an emotional Lewton.
Lewton has been plying his trade on the Asian Tour since graduating from Qualifying School in 2012 and was delighted to win his first title at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters, an event which he missed the cut in the last two editions.
Meanwhile Lascuna was left to wait longer for his maiden victory. He claimed a tie-second finish at the ICTSI Philippine Open in May and lost in a play-off to Thailand's Chapchai Nirat at the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters in Malaysia three weeks ago.
The Mercuries Taiwan Masters is the penultimate tournament for players to qualify for the CIMB Classic and WGC-HSBC Champions.
As of October 20, the leading four golfers from the Order of Merit will earn starting places in the $8.5 million HSBC Champions while the leading 10 players will qualify for the $7 million CIMB Classic.
