The Asian golf legend closed with a final round of four-under-par 67 to finish three shots behind Rob Labritz, who fired a bogey-free 64 to top the class with his 17-under 267 total, reports the Bangkok Post.
David Branshaw carded a 68 to finish alongside Thongchai while Roger Rowland and Tom Gillis also became exempt into open, full-field events for the 2022 PGA Tour Champions (senior tour) season after finishing fourth and fifth.
Thongchai and Branshaw shared runner-up honours at 14 under before the Thai birdied the first play-off hole (No.10) to earn the No.2 spot.
“I performed well this week,” Thongchai said. “I’m putting very well. Everything is better than it was earlier this year. Hopefully I can keep it going.”
Two years ago, Thongchai earned his playing rights on PGA Tour Champions from the qualifying school but the COVID-19 pandemic dashed his hopes of performing well in the over-50 circuit as he missed a large portion of the 2020-21 season due to travel restrictions that kept him in Thailand.
He did finish strongly at the end of the recent season with two successive top-10 finishes.
“It feels great. I played a solid round, was solid all week and I’ve now got back my tour card. Hopefully next year will be a lot better than this year. COVID affected everything and shut things down. It was very difficult for everyone,” he said.
“In my last two tournaments, I finished top-five and top-10 and it brought my confidence back. I worked very hard before coming over here.
“It’s difficult to get the five cards and I’m happy I did it.”