CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- Despite posting a 2-over-par 74 in the final round, Boonchu Ruangkit (Bangkok, Thailand) claimed medalist honors at the 2006 Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament at the TPC Eagle Trace on Saturday. Ruangkit either led or shared the lead after each of the four rounds and finished with a 72-hole total of 11-under-par 277, two strokes higher than Mark McNulty’s score when he was the Q-school medalist at the TPC Eagle Trace in 2003.

The 50-year-old Boonchu, a five-time winner on the Asian Tour, started the day with a five-stroke cushion and played steady for the first 12 holes. However, consecutive bogeys at No. 13 and No. 14 temporarily dropped him into a tie with hard-charging Canadian Rod Spittle (Columbus, Ohio). Ruangkit then played his final three holes in even par while Spittle finished double-bogey, bogey, bogey to fall back into a tie for third with Bruce Vaughn (Hutchinson, Kan.) who closed with a 67, the low round of the day. Ruangkit eventually won by three strokes over another Canadian, former PGA TOUR player Ray Stewart (Abbotsford, British Columbia), and pocketed a $28,500 check for the victory.

This marked the fourth time in the last five years, and sixth time overall, that an international player has been the medalist at the National Qualifying Tournament on the Champions Tour. Last year, Japan's Massy Kuramoto earned top honors at the Q-school. Other internationals who were medalists included: McNulty (Zimbabwe) in 2003, Des Smyth (Ireland) in 2002, Masaru Amano (Japan) in 1995 and Simon Hobday (South Africa) in 1990.

“John Jacobs is like a big brother to me and I watched him on television, playing the Champions Tour for many years. I saw how successful he was over here and that motivated me this week,” Ruangkit said through an interpreter. “I really wasn’t aware I was tied at one point today. I just played my own game and wanted to do my best.”

Tim Conley, a winner on the Nationwide Tour, had the day’s strangest round, making seven birdies and seven pars for a 2-under 70. After shooting 7-under 29 on the front nine, Conley ballooned to a 5-over 41 on the back side. The round was still good enough to move him up 18 spots into a tie for 19th.

Pat McDonald (Rocklin, Calif.), an exempt player on the Champions Tour in 2003, made the biggest move of the day. McDonald’s 2-under 70 jumped him up 28 places into a tie for 30th

The top 30 and ties (33 players) earned spots into weekly qualifiers at all open events on the Champions Tour in 2007.