Amandeep Johl finished tied 15th as he ended with a three-over round of 75 on the final day of the US $500,000 Maekyung Open at the Nam Seoul Country Club in Seoul on Sunday.

Johl was tied fifth and looked set for a good finish but his putter failed him on the last day.

Korean veteran Choi Sang-ho thwarted a brave bid by Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand to lift title by three strokes.

Overnight leader Choi completed his sensational wire-to-wire triumph with a final round of two-under-par 70, which gave him a four-day winning aggregate of 10-under-par 278. His victory, worth US$98,000, made him the oldest winner on the Asian Tour at the age of 50 years and 145 days.

Thaworn finished second following a 70 while Korea's Sung Si-woo came in third on 282. Korean amateur Kim Kyung-tae and Kim Hyung-tae shared fourth place, a further two strokes back. Australian Marcus Both and Thailand's Boonchu Ruangkit closed with matching 71s to be amongst those sharing sixth place on 285.

Thaworn's second place cheque of US $61,274 saw him replace compatriot Thongchai Jaidee at the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit with US $326,229.

India's second player on the weekend, Shiv Kapur had another disappointing round, as he shot a five-over 77 to finish at 15-over 303 and he was tied 68th.

Johl opened the day at three-under for three rounds. He shot bogeys on the second and fourth and never recovered. He made up a little with a birdie on the seventh, and then again bogeyed the 11th, 13th and 14th holes. A birdie on the 16^th was not enough to undo all the damage as he finished with 75, his worst during the week. He had rounds of 72, 71 and 70 on first three days.

Trailing by three strokes heading into the final round, Thaworn reduced the lead to one on the seventh hole but the experienced Choi hung on doggedly to clinch a famous home victory in front of massive crowds.

It was a glorious final round, which saw Singapore-based Australian Scott Barr adding to the excitement. He shot an albatross on the par five fourth hole en route to a 70, the first on the Asian Tour in nearly two years. Hong Chia-yuh of Chinese Taipei was the last player to shoot an albatross at the Maekyung Open two years ago.

Leading final round scores: 278 - Choi Sang-ho (KOR); 66-70-72-70; 281 - Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 71-71-69-70; 282 - Sung Si-woo (KOR) 72-70-70-70; 284 - Kim Kyung-tae [A] (KOR) 71-69-74-70, Kim Hyung-tae (KOR) 70-74-69-71; 285 � Park No-seok (KOR) 72-74-71-68, Bae Sang-moon (KOR) 72-74-70-69, Marcus Both (AUS) 71-70-73-71, Boonchu Ruangkit (THA) 72-71-71-71; 286 - Alistair Presnell (AUS) 73-76-70-67, Moon Ji-wook (KOR) 72-74-72-68, Kang Ji-man (KOR) 70-74-70-72; 287 - Prom Meesawat (THA) 75-71-73-68, Chung Joon (KOR) 70-76-74-67; 288 - Nam Young-woo (KOR) 72-76-71-69, Hur In-hoi [A] (KOR) 74-69-71-74, Edward Loar (USA) 73-70-69-76, Amandeep Johl (IND) 72-71-70-75.

OTHER INDIAN SCORE: 303 Shivh Kapur 73-76-77-77 tied 68th.