Thailand’s Itthipat Buranatanyarat let his experience do the talking in the final round of the Aramco Invitational tournament in Saudi Arabia, his two-under-par 70 enough to maintain his overnight lead and secure victory.

And with the extra prize money available in the US$250,000 season-ending Asian Development Tour event, the win was enough to propel him to the top of the Order of Merit standings, edging out three multiple tournament winners in the process.

Having played in all 12 ADT events this season, Itthipat’s consistency through the year meant he was able to take the honours without winning an event, unlike his nearest rivals Tanapat Pichaikool, Ahmad Baig and Rahil Gangee, all two-time winners this year.

With Asian Tour cards available for the top ten in the OOM, there was cause for celebration for Thailand’s Tanapat, India’s Gangee and Baig of Pakistan, who finished second, third and fourth respectively.

Dodge Kemmer (70) of the USA, who finished second today, grabbed the sixth spot in the OOM, behind Liu Yung-hua (70) of Chinese Taipei who ended up in a share of 12th spot for the tournament.

Thailand’s Varanyu Rattanphiboonkij (70) finished third today, which was enoguh to help him into seventh spot on the OOM list, slightly ahead of compatriots Witchayapat Sinsrang (73) and Kosuke Hamamoto (72), who ended the day in 36th and 25th places respectively.

The final qualifier for next year’s Asian Tour card was Hong Kong’s Matthew Cheung (69), who shared 16th place today, enough to edge out Thailand’s Sarut Vongchaisit and Runchanapong Youprayong by the slimmest of margins.

Thailand’s Chanat Sakulpolphaisan (68) finished fourth in the tournament, ahead of Tanapat and England’s Ben Jones and Matt Killen, who all shared the day’s low round of 67. They shared the place with Arjun Parsad (71) of India.

In ninth place, Runchanapong (68) finished alongside Joel Stalter (71) of France, a stroke ahead of Thomas Lim (71) of the USA.

In 12th place, Liu shared the place with Aidric Chan of the Philippines (70), Shinichi Mizuno (72) of Japan and Sweden’s Filip Lundell (74).

With the 2024 ADT season now in the bag, for the top ten Order of Merit winners the prospect of a year on the Asian Tour in 2025 looms. For the others, there’s always Q-School, which enters its final stage in Thailand and concludes in Hua Hin from December 17-21.

Main Image: Thananuwat Srirasant/Asian Tour