Australia's Terry Pilkadaris captured his first-ever Asian Tour victory at the inaugural Shanghai Open yesterday with a one-stroke victory over Thailand's Boonchu Ruangkit at Tomson Pudong.

The Melbourne native carded an even-par 72 in the final round to finish an aggregate eight-under to claim the US$32,300 first prize.

Australian Marcus Both finished joint third in the US$200,000 tournament, a joint sanctioned event between the Asian Tour and the China PGA League, with American Gary Rusnak at five-under.

Pilkadaris who got married three weeks ago, held a two stroke lead going into the final round. His lead evaporated when he bogeyed the first two holes.

He then recovered to birdie the fifth and ninth holes, and play par golf on the back nine.

As 48-year-old Ruangkit birdied the final hole one group ahead of Pilkadaris, the Australian replied with a superb approach to the final green, leaving his ball 15 feet from the hole.

After missing his birdie putt, the 30-year-old nailed a two-foot putt for the win.

"That was the longest two-foot putt you'll ever make," he said.

Pilkadaris said the win helped make up for his disappointing finish at last month's Korean Open, where he led after three rounds, only to falter in the final and finish fourth.

Pilkadaris finished second at his last tournament, the Taiwan Open - his best tour finish up to that point - before taking a break to get married.

"It's a big relief," he said of finally winning after those near misses. "It's fun. I look forward to more."

Despite his late surge from overnight fourth, evergreen Ruangkit said his putter hadn't warmed up quick enough.

"I hit the ball really well all week, but didn't putt well on any of the days," Ruangkit said. "I said yesterday that I would not be able to win unless I putted better and that's what happened."

Australian Anthony Summers and South African Craig Kamps finished at four-under while Eiji Mizoguchi and Satoshi Tomiyama of Japan were joint fifth at two-under, along with Thailand's Somkiat Srisanga and Greg Hanrahan of the United States.

Zheng Wengan was the top Chinese player with an aggregate score of 291, 11 shots off the pace.

Bruce Mckenzie of the InterContinental Hotels Group whose Crowne Plaza hotel chain sponsored the event, said the tournament had fulfilled its original aims of showcasing Chinese professional golf.

"We had a couple of hole-in-ones this week and a tournament record, so certainly the golf was very good," he said.

"With the relationship we have built up with the China PGA League, we will go back and review what the future (of the tournament) holds and make a decision about next year. Certainly golf is a sport we are interested in and we have dipped our towel in the water with this event."