Van Pelt Cruises to Victory at the CIMB in Malaysia

Bo Van Pelt carded a final round score of seven-under par (64), en route to his impressive six shot victory at the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic in Malaysia.

The Richmond, Indiana native has not posted a win since his first PGA Tour victory in 2009 at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee in a playoff over John Mallinger.

Van Pelt would birdie five out of his last eight holes to cruise to victory and really enjoy a moment he had always wondered how it would feel.

“I’ve watched other guys coming down 18 with a big lead and I thought, `That would be fun some day if I could do that.’ And it was,” he said after his run away victory.

“I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I get to do what I love to do for a living.”

Although it is not official PGA Tour money, Van Pelt earned a cool $1.3-million for his 23-under par performance, as well as an entry into the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, to kick of the 2012 season.

Talking in his post round press conference, Van Pelt commented on his round and finally securing a victory after missing opportunities earlier in the year.

“I played well all day. I didn’t make any bogeys. I just tried to play to game plan all week.”

“I’ve had a couple of chances to win this year, but didn’t come out on top.”

“Canada was a tough pill to swallow. I just wanted to learn from that and do a better job when I had the lead. I take a lot of satisfaction in how I played today.”

Van Pelt now knows what it feels like to stroll down the 18th fairway with a big lead, knowing that the tournament is all but over, as he takes it all in heading to the final green.

He beat out fellow Indiana competitor Jeff Overton, who actually shot the course record earlier this week in round two.

Seeing Van Pelt play as well as he did, Overton had this to say after finishing second to his fellow Indiana native.

“That was one of the best rounds of golf I’ve seen.”

“I didn’t play a great round. I played a solid round. I kind of had a couple of hiccups. He birdied some holes that I bogeyed and those were huge momentum shifters.”

Van Pelt capitalized all day on others mistakes, as he kept a clean card in the final round to claim his second PGA Tour victory.