SINGAPORE – As Ham Jeong-woo lifted his winner’s trophy at the prize ceremony of the Singapore Open presented by The Business Times, it wobbled briefly, threatening to slip from his grasp but he quickly regained his grip on it.
It was a rare shaky moment from the South Korean, who delivered a steady performance at Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong Course to earn his maiden Asian Tour win on April 26.
Just moments earlier, he had sealed a memorable week with a final-round three-under 68 to win the US$2 million (S$2.6 million) tournament by two strokes as he finished with a 16-under 268 total.
Australian Cameron John was two strokes behind in second, after closing the event with a five-under 66.
The trio of Spain’s Josele Ballester (66), Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond (68) and Japan’s Tomohiro Ishizaka (70) trailed John by five shots.
On his victory, Ham said: “In the last two years, my golf hasn’t been doing too well so this is a motivational factor for me. It tells me that if I prepare well, I too can win.
“Honestly, I was not thinking at all about winning. Even today, I was playing just so-so so I thought I’d be 10th on the leaderboard. But I won so I’m feeling very proud of myself – that my golf has improved.”
South Korea’s Ham Jeong-woo carded five birdies against one double-bogey on the final day of the Singapore Open presented by The Business Times to seal his first Asian Tour win.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Having led throughout the International Series tournament, the world No. 735 started the final day with a four-shot cushion over John atop the leaderboard.
