By Kent Gray
Sadom Kaewkanjana clearly missed the memo about golf being a difficult game. Perhaps it’s no surprise given he was purposely left off the mail bemoaning the curse of slow play too.

The ever-smiling Thai capped a ridiculously brilliant 10-month run by cantering to victory, almost literally, in the Asian Tour’s season-ending SMBC Singapore Open on Sunday.

A closing 69 at Sentosa Golf Club saw Kaewkanjana finish -13, three strokes clear of Japan’s Yuto Katsuragawa and Joohyung Kim, the 19-year-old Korean who won last week’s Singapore International and wrapped up the Asian Tour Order of Merit title with another standout Sunday.

The final day of the Asian Tour’s elongated 2020-21 season, which paradoxically featured the SMBC Singapore Open twice in its limited eight tournament schedule and finished on Jan. 23, 2002 after spanning a smidgeon over three years due to the pandemic, clearly belonged to Kaewkanjana though.

A $225,000 payday for his second Asian Tour triumph was only the start of the biggest day of a career on a sharp ascent. Kaewkanjana also snared the first of four spots on offer for the 150th Open Championship at the Home of Golf in July – a wondrous opportunity money simply can’t buy. Kim, Katsuragawa and Korean-American Sihwan Kim snared the other coveted starts at St. Andrews.

Open Championship bound (from L to R) Yuto Katsuragawa, Sadom Kaewkanjana, Sihwan Kim and Joohyung Kim.

It will be a well-earned first major championship start for Kaewkanjana (presuming he doesn’t qualify for the first three majors of 2022) who has incredibly won five of his last 10 starts, including three wins on the All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT) in little more than a month at the tail end of 2021. Indeed, his results since March last year are the stuff of golfing dreams: 2nd, 8th, Win, Win, 2nd, 2nd, Win, 2nd (and since the Asian Tour’s resumption) 2nd, 5th, 24th and Win. It has seen the 23-year-old rise 595 spots up the world rankings to a career-high position of 148th.

It seems Kaewkanjana has been in a hurry ever since he graduated to the Asian Tour via Q-School in 2019. He duly went on to win his very first start on the main tour at the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open in Bangladesh that April – a graduation record.

The best bit about all the success is Kaewkanjana’s pace of play. His silky putting stroke is noteworthy but not as much as his ability to draw a club, pick a target and pull the trigger in roughly the same amount of time most players spend studying the wind and calculating the distance to be negotiated.

It’s refreshingly brisk and inevitably accompanied with a smile. And why not. Golf is a simple game the way Kaewkanjana is playing it as those set to spectate the $5 million Saudi International, the Asian Tour’s new 2022-23 season opener from Feb-3-6, will likely discover.

Kaewkanjana went bogey-free over the final 38 holes at Sentosa Golf Club.

“I’m very excited and very happy to win this tournament,” Kaewkanjana said before revealing the well-hidden truth about trying to close out one of the most prestigious tournaments on the Asian Tour. He’d started the final round tied with Sihwan Kim on -11 and three clear of the other Kim, Joohyung. From there, Kaewkanjana barely put a speedy foot, much less a swing, wrong.

“On the final day it was not easy for me, a lot of pressure but I got it so happy.”

He could have fooled everyone watching on TV after playing the final 38-holes on Sentosa’s water hugged and sand-laden Serapong course bogey-free.

You make it look so easy, so uncomplicated. Seriously, Sadom, what’s the secret?

“I think just play happy and just enjoy the game, just live in the present and don’t worry about the results, just live shot by shot and small focus,” he said. “I have a lot of practice and a lot of hard work after COVID-19 so today’s result has made me happy.”

The putt that sealed the victory for Sadom Kaewkanjana.@SingOpenGolf #SingOpen #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/UUu2Dp6UVK

— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) January 23, 2022

Another happy chappie is Joohyung Kim who finished the season Asian No.1 with $507,553.35 from eight starts – six of them resulting in top-10s. After becoming the youngest ever winner of the Korean PGA Tour OOM in 2021, the teen moved to a career-best world ranking of 79.

Just as exciting was confirmation of his Open ticket.  It marks the second time in succession that Kim has made it through to golf’s oldest Major via the SMBC Singapore Open as he finished fourth in 2020, the last time the prestigious event was played. 

“I had the opportunity to play in The Open last year but could not because of COVID, so it means so much to have a second chance,” Kim said. 

Kaewkanjana finished second, $128,581 adrift, with Aussie Wade Ormsby, who had led the OOM all season until Kim won the first leg of the Singapore Swing, finishing third after opting to tee it up in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship instead.

Congratulations to Joohyung Kim on lifting the 2020/21 Order of Merit crown! The 19-year-old topped the final Merit rankings following his joint second-place finish at the SMBC Singapore Open.???@SingOpenGolf @joohyungkim0621 #SingOpen #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/mZknigCY85

— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) January 23, 2022

For all the highs on Sunday in Singapore there were stories of heartbreak too, led by Veer Ahlawat who had one of the four Open Championship starts in his grasp for much of the final round only to finish double bogey-bogey. The Indian eventually settled for a share of fifth, two shots out of the golden ticket zone.

Japan’s Naoki Sekito was also pipped by a tiny margin in the final OOM standings where the top-30 earned invites to King Abdullah Economic City for the Saudi International. Sekito was just $3,433 behind the lucky last qualifier for the Asian Tour’s new “flagship” event at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, Thailand’s Suradit Yongcharoenchai.

Paul Casey, opting for Singapore over Abu Dhabi for his Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic title-defence tune-up, had a topsy-turvy week, finishing T-16 at -3, 10-shots behind Kaewkanjana.

Here’s the final leaderboard for the 2022 SMBC Singapore Open

Full results: https://t.co/59si9yYSov@SingOpenGolf #SingOpen #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/g3lM5Y1wTn

— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) January 23, 2022

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By Kent Gray
Paul Casey will warm up for his defence of the Dubai Desert Classic at the US$1.25 million SMBC Singapore Open, opting for the Asian Tour event over a shot at history in Abu Dhabi.

The 44-year-old Englishman has committed to the final tournament of the convoluted 2020-21 Asian Tour season at Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong Course – paradoxically from January 20-23, 2022.

Yas Links is set to host the DP World Tour’s calendar year opener in the same time slot meaning Casey won’t get the chance to match Martin Kaymer as a three-time winner of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The world No.27 has committed to teeing it up on the Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club in the 33rd Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic the following week after claiming the famed Dallah trophy by four strokes from South Africa’s Brandon Stone last year.

Casey went close to winning the Singapore Open the last time it was contested in 2019, a closing 65 in the penultimate group seeing the five-time Ryder Cupper finish two strokes behind Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond.

“I had committed to play last year before the tournament had to be postponed because of COVID-19 but when I knew the event was back on this year, I was more than happy to renew my intention to play,” said Casey who has won 21 times worldwide and finished T-10 in his only other appearance at the Singapore Open in 2012.

“I love the event, the golf course and the city and I definitely have some unfinished business there… I’d love to have my name on that trophy.”

Photo credit: SMBC Singapore Open

Casey has won three Asian Tour titles – the Shinhan Donghae Open in Korea in 2011 and the Volvo China Open and TCL Classic, also in China, both in 2005 – to go with 15 titles on the DP World Tour and three on the PGA Tour.

He feels a responsibility to play in Asia, bringing all his experience, including three Ryder Cup successes and victory with countryman Luke Donald at the 2004 World Cup, to a region starved of top-flight golf due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Given the tough two years Asian golf have faced, I felt it was important I continue to support the event. As a global player I feel obligated to help grow the game and impart my knowledge and experiences with the next generation of Asian golfers.”

On the final day in 2019, Casey was five under for his round after 14 holes but saw his title charge s halted by a bogey at 15. Two more birdies followed for a six-under-par 65 but it was not enough to stop Janewattananond who also shot 65 for a winning total of 18-under-par 266 ‒ the SMBC Singapore Open tournament record.

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By Ryan Herrington
The field at Asian Tour’s SMBC Singapore Open wasn’t quite the one Sergio Garcia would have faced if he was playing Abu Dhabi, but a win is a win, and it’s exactly what the 38-year-old Spaniard wanted out of his first start in 2018.

Garcia played a bogey-free 27 holes on Sunday, shooting four under on the back nine to close out a third-round 66, then posting a closing three-under 68 in his final round. In the process, he extended a one-stroke lead to five strokes over Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira and South Africa’s Shaun Morris.

The Masters champion was particularly proud of the way he handled the starts and stops caused by stormy weather that hampered the event at Sentosa Golf Club.

“It may have looked easy, but it wasn’t easy. You still have to hit a lot of good shots out there,” Garcia said. “It’s always great to start with a win, to do it here at this golf course against a good field in Asia on conditions that weren’t easy. Hopefully, I can ride on this momentum.”

For the week, Garcia made just three bogeys as he carded his 33rd professional title and his sixth on the Asian Tour. He hopes to grab No. 34 next week as he heads to the European Tour’ Omega Dubai Desert Classic, where he is the defending champion. It was the first of the now four titles Garcia has won worldwide since the start of 2017.

The post A confident Sergio Garcia wins going away in Singapore appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

An impressive final round 67 Saturday saw the 33-year-old Dubai-based Swiss amateur finish in a three-way tie for first place in the section B qualifier at Suvarnabhumi Golf & Country Club.

Harradine must now finish amidst the top-35 players and ties in the final stage from January 11-14 to earn a coveted Asian Tour card for 2017.

Critically for the Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club member, the final tournament, another pressure-packed 72-holer beginning Wednesday, is being staged at Suvarnabhumi where he rattled off rounds of 66-64-70-67 to finish -22 and equal top from a field of 121.

Matching Harradine on 266 at Suvarnabhum (where the top 26 and ties advanced) were Janne Kaske (Finland), who closed with a six-under 64, and American Sejun Yoon.

In the other section B qualifier at Windsor Park and Golf Club, Korean Songgyu Yoo topped the 25 qualifiers with a -20 total of 268 following a closing 64.

Harradine was one of just two amateurs to advance from the section B qualifiers. The other was Indian Arhun Prasad who finished T7 at Windsor on 277.

The Asia Tour’s first event of 2017, the SMBC Singapore Open, begins January 19 at Sentosa Golf Club.

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