DATES: January 18-21

SITE: Serapong Course, Sentosa Golf Club

PRIZE MONEY: $1,000,000

Round 4 – Impressive Sergio Garcia wins Singapore Open

January 21, 2018

Sergio Garcia played 27 holes on the last day without dropping a shot to win the Singapore Open by five strokes Sunday in an ominous display of his new found self-belief as he prepares to defend his Masters title.

Still brimming with confidence after claiming his first major title at Augusta National last year, Garcia started his new season with a runaway victory at the Sentosa Golf Club, finishing at 14-under 270.

Returning to the course just after dawn to complete his third round after play was suspended on Saturday because of lightning strikes, Garcia finished his last nine holes in 4-under for a round of 66 to take a one-shot lead into the final round.

With organizers desperate to avert the constant threat of more bad weather and finish the tournament on time, Garcia promptly returned to the first tee shortly after and fired a flawless 3-under 68, cruising to victory with 10 straight pars as his rivals floundered in the stifling humidity.

His closest rivals at the end were Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira (71) and South African Shaun Norris (70). Both birdied the last hole to share second spot but neither was ever close enough on the last day to challenge Garcia.

Jazz Janewattananond (71) and his fellow Thai Danthai Bonnma (73) finished equal fourth at 8-under, earning themselves a spot in this year’s British Open, while American rookie Sean Crocker also won a place at Carnoustie by finishing in a tie for sixth.

Garcia made just three bogeys in 72 holes and his victory provided the 38-year-old with the 33rd title of his professional career and his sixth on the Asian Tour.

He has also won three titles in the last 12 months, including the Masters, and his game looks to be in better shape now than it was a year ago .

He credits the Singapore Open as having played a part in toughening him up for Augusta National because of the steamy conditions and the testing stop-start nature of the tournament, which is regularly stopped because of inclement weather.

Although he finished tied for 11th in Singapore a year ago, Garcia won the Dubai Desert Classic the next week and was in peak form when he won the Masters two months later.

Pos.	Player	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Total
1	Sergio GARCIA	66	70	66	68	-14	-270
2	Satoshi KODAIRA	66	72	66	71	-9	-275
2	Shaun NORRIS	69	67	69	70	-9	-275

Click here for full scores.

Round 3 – Garcia and Ishikawa still in contention

January 20, 2018

US Masters champion Sergio Garcia had his game interrupted for the second day running at the Singapore Open as a lightning storm halted play at the Sentosa Golf Course on Saturday.

The world number 10 had teed off on round three just after 2:30pm but was halted by rain. Play resumed about an hour later but was again called off in the early evening due to the lightning risk.

Sixty two golfers, including Garcia, will resume round three when play restarts on Sunday morning.

The fickle Southeast Asian weather has frequently disrupted play at the Singapore Open in recent years, with organisers looking at a possible Monday finish should the frequent storms continue.

Garcia only managed to complete his second round on Saturday morning but had a frustrating time missing several birdie putts on the back nine.

At seven-under after nine holes in round three, the Spaniard is now in a joint third spot group alongside playing partner Ryo Ishikawa of Japan.

Ishikawa, 26, thrilled with four birdies in 10 holes for a second round 66, briefly joining Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat in the lead but fell back after beginning round three.

Chapchai, who lost his Asia Tour card last season and only made it onto this week’s field because of his earnings, has appeared to bounce back in spectacular form.

At nine-under after nine holes, he has managed to hold on to the clubhouse lead for the second day running, sharing it with compatriot Danthai Boonma.

“I won’t be overthinking about the tournament, just going to enjoy the experience here,” Chapchai said.

Top scores after round 3 of the SMBC Singapore Golf Open (par 71) before play was suspended:

211 – Shunya Takeyasu (JPN), Yoshinori Fujimoto (JPN)
213 – Jesse Yap (am, SIN)
214 – Thanyakon Khronhpha (THA), Arjun Atwal (IND)
217 – Lee Seung-Taek (KOR)

Round 2 – Ishikawa and Nirat tied for Singapore lead, Garcia 1-stroke back

January 19, 2018

Ryo Ishikawa moved into a share of the lead at the halfway stage of the Singapore Open on Saturday, raising hopes the former teen prodigy can finally win a tournament away from home.

Ishikawa completed his weather-interrupted second round with a 5-under 66 to join Chapchai Nirat in a two-way tie for the lead at 7-under 135 at Sentosa Golf Club.

Masters champion Sergio Garcia was in a five-man group, a further stroke back at 6-under, but on a heavily congested leaderboard where the top 29 players were within three shots of the lead.

Garcia, who held a share of the first-round lead, birdied the final hole to end a run of eight straight pars and shot a second-round 70.

”I felt like I hit the ball OK,” Garcia said. ”My putting and all went great but my speed hasn’t been great on this green so let’s see if I can be a little more aggressive on the rounds this weekend.”

The Spaniard credits the Singapore Open as having played a part in toughening him up for his first major championship title at Augusta National because of the tough conditions and stifling humidity of southeast Asia.

Although he finished tied for 11th in Singapore, Garcia won the Dubai Desert Classic the next week and was in peak form when he won the Masters two months later. And he’s already feeling confident of his chances of success this weekend, but hoping for better luck with the weather.

”Let’s see if we can finish the round, that will be nice,” he said. ”But I think if I can play 4-under I should have a chance.”

Ishikawa’s round was less routine than Garcia’s after he returned to the course just after dawn to resume where he left off the night before. He racked up eight birdies but also double bogeyed the tricky third hole for the second time in succession and dropped a shot at the sixth.

”It was a short night but I had a good sleep and just putted well,” Ishikawa said. ”(The) greens are a little quicker than yesterday but I still figured (out) that speed.”

A teenage star, Ishikawa was thrust into the spotlight more than a decade ago. In 2007, he became the youngest player to win on any of the major tours in the world. He was a 15-year-old amateur when he won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup.

The ”Bashful Prince” received rock-star treatment in Japan and had the largest entourage of photographers. He turned pro at 16, first played in the Masters when he was 17 and the Presidents Cup when he was 18. He shot 58 in the final round to win The Crowns in Japan when he was 19.

Now 26, Ishikawa has struggled with injuries and form in recent years. He lost his PGA Tour card and hasn’t played in any of the majors since 2015. He has won 15 times as a professional, but has never won outside his homeland of Japan but is hopeful he can change that soon.

”My tee shot is getting better, especially in the last nine holes,” he said. ”So if I could hit straighter, I can make more birdies in the next 18 holes.”

Chapchai was able to sleep in and put his feet up on Saturday morning after he completed his second round on Friday, just before play was suspended because of lightning strikes in the area.

To make up for lost time, event organizers announced the third round would be played in groups of three off two tees.

Round 1 – Garcia tied for lead with Kitayama in Singapore Open

January 18, 2018

Masters champion Sergio Garcia got his 2018 campaign off to a good start at the Singapore Open on Thursday, firing a five-under-par 66 to share the lead.

Garcia, who began a spectacular 2017 in Singapore last year, began slowly but picked up the pace around the turn, and fired an eagle and four birdies in his first tournament of the year.

The Spaniard, who won his first Major victory at Augusta last April and was named 2017 European Golfer of the Year, ended the day tied for the top spot with American Kurt Kitayama.

World number 10 Garcia converted an 18-inch birdie putt at the par-three 17th, then eagled a par-five 18th from three feet.

He fired a birdie at the second hole, then picked up another shot at the par-five fourth.

“I’ll probably chill a little bit. I did a lot of things right, but I still have lots to work on. I’ll try to stay cool, have a nice dinner and get ready for tomorrow,” the 38-year-old said.

“This is a great tournament to start the year with.”

Thailand’s Tirawat Kaewsiribandit was threatening to share the lead before play was suspended due to lightning risk with a five-under-par through 16 holes at the Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong course.

Seventy-eight players have yet to complete round one. Play will resume early Friday.

Kitayama shot six birdies and was bogey-free for 17 holes before dropping a stroke at his final hole of the day.

Fellow American Casey O’Toole shot the first ace of the 2018 season on the Asian and Japan Tours.

O’Toole, Koumei Oda of Japan and former Singapore Open champion Jyoti Randhawa of India carded matching 68s to share second place.

Top scores after round one of the SMBC Singapore Golf Open (par 71) before play was suspended:

66 – Sergio Garcia (ESP), Kurt Kitayama (USA)

68 – Jyoti Randhawa (IND), Koumei Oda (JPN), Casey O’Toole (USA)

69 – Terry Pilkadaris (AUS), Masahiro Kawamura (JPN), Chien-yao Hung (TPE), Gregory Foo (SIN), Javi Colomo (ESP), Wenchong Liang (CHN), Ryo Ishikawa (JPN), Hiroyuki Fujita (JPN), Hiroshi Iwata (JPN), Giwhan Kim (KOR)

Scores

Pos.	Player	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Total
1	Sergio GARCIA	66	70	66	68	-14	-270
2	Satoshi KODAIRA	66	72	66	71	-9	-275
	Shaun NORRIS	69	67	69	70	-9	-275
4	Jazz JANEWATTANANOND	71	68	66	71	-8	-276
	Danthai BOONMA	70	68	65	73	-8	-276
6	Sean CROCKER	71	70	67	69	-7	-277
	Cameron DAVIS	68	70	69	70	-7	-277
8	Miguel TABUENA	71	69	68	70	-6	-278
	Gavin GREEN	71	67	69	71	-6	-278
	Berry HENSON	70	72	71	65	-6	-278
	Lucas HERBERT	68	70	69	71	-6	-278
12	Poom SAKSANSIN	70	69	69	71	-5	-279
	Yuki INAMORI	70	70	67	72	-5	-279
	ANDY ZHANG (A)	72	66	71	70	-5	-279
	Danny MASRIN	71	66	67	75	-5	-279
16	Chapchai NIRAT	71	64	68	77	-4	-280
	Ryo ISHIKAWA	69	66	74	71	-4	-280
	Gregory FOO (A)	69	69	69	73	-4	-280
	Wenchong LIANG	69	70	72	69	-4	-280
	Tze Huang CHOO	70	69	71	70	-4	-280
21	Panuphol PITTAYARAT	71	70	70	70	-3	-281
	Pat PEREZ	70	72	71	68	-3	-281
23	Shunya TAKEYASU	69	71	71	71	-2	-282
	Ben LEONG	70	68	73	71	-2	-282
	Hiroshi IWATA	69	69	74	70	-2	-282
	Shiv KAPUR	70	67	71	74	-2	-282
27	Gaganjeet BHULLAR	66	72	75	70	-1	-283
	Tirawat KAEWSIRIBANDIT	66	70	72	75	-1	-283
	Yoshinori FUJIMOTO	68	72	71	72	-1	-283
	Koumei ODA	68	70	71	74	-1	-283
	Ryuko TOKIMATSU	70	71	68	74	-1	-283
	Jyoti RANDHAWA	68	70	72	73	-1	-283
33	Casey O’TOOLE	68	68	73	75	Par	-284
	Brendan JONES	71	71	71	71	Par	-284
	Yujiro OHORI	70	72	71	71	Par	-284
	Giwhan KIM	69	69	70	76	Par	-284
	Shugo IMAHIRA	72	70	72	70	Par	-284
	Hiroyuki FUJITA	69	71	75	69	Par	-284
	Jesse YAP (A)	68	72	73	71	Par	-284
40	Thanyakon KHRONGPHA	70	70	74	71	1	-285
	Thaworn WIRATCHANT	70	70	71	74	1	-285
	Ryutaro NAGANO	70	70	76	69	1	-285
	Gunn CHAROENKUL	70	68	74	73	1	-285
	Toshinori MUTO	69	69	74	73	1	-285
	Yusaku MIYAZATO	72	70	74	69	1	-285
	Masahiro KAWAMURA	69	67	74	75	1	-285
47	Arjun ATWAL	73	67	74	72	2	-286
	Mikumu HORIKAWA	72	70	72	72	2	-286
49	Matthew GRIFFIN	70	72	71	74	3	-287
	Jarin TODD	71	66	74	76	3	-287
	Louis OOSTHUIZEN	66	72	73	76	3	-287
	Eric SUGIMOTO	70	68	73	76	3	-287
	Richard T. LEE	68	70	72	77	3	-287
	Siddikur RAHMAN	68	73	71	75	3	-287
	Daijiro IZUMIDA	73	68	72	74	3	-287
56	Seungtaek LEE	74	65	78	71	4	-288
	David BRANSDON	70	71	71	76	4	-288
	Nicholas FUNG	74	68	72	74	4	-288
	Kurt KITAYAMA	66	71	82	69	4	-288
60	Chikkarangappa S.	72	68	76	73	5	-289
	Chien-yao HUNG	69	73	75	72	5	-289
62	Shih-chang CHAN	72	70	74	74	6	-290
63	Marcus FRASER	72	70	75	75	8	-292
	Simon YATES	72	70	74	76	8	-292
	Wei-chih LU	71	71	74	76	8	-292
66	Deng Shan KOH	70	72	76	76	10	-294
	Chanachok DEJPIRATANAMONGKOL	74	68	74	78	10	-294
68	Shariffuddin ARIFFIN	71	70	76	83	16	-300
CUT
	Kyungnam KANG	74	69			1	-143
	Shota AKIYOSHI	73	70			1	-143
	Yuta IKEDA	70	73			1	-143
	Keith HORNE	72	71			1	-143
	Sihwan KIM	73	70			1	-143
	Kunihiro KAMII	70	73			1	-143
	Prayad MARKSAENG	72	71			1	-143
	Daisuke KATAOKA	71	72			1	-143
	Masashi HIDAKA	72	71			1	-143
	Khalin JOSHI	72	71			1	-143
	Suradit YONGCHAROENCHAI	72	71			1	-143
	J.G. HWANG	73	70			1	-143
	Johannes VEERMAN	71	72			1	-143
	Paul PETERSON	69	74			1	-143
	Byung-Min CHO	68	75			1	-143
	Javi COLOMO	69	75			2	-144
	David OH	74	70			2	-144
	Tomoharu OTSUKI	69	75			2	-144
	Younghan SONG	71	73			2	-144
	Natipong SRITHONG	74	70			2	-144
	Arnond VONGVANIJ	72	72			2	-144
	Danny CHIA	73	72			3	-145
	Daisuke MARUYAMA	73	72			3	-145
	Jake HIGGINBOTTOM	73	72			3	-145
	Ajeetesh SANDHU	75	70			3	-145
	Hyungsung KIM	74	71			3	-145
	Koichi KITAMURA	72	73			3	-145
	Jbe KRUGER	72	73			3	-145
	Marcus BOTH	76	69			3	-145
	Todd SINNOTT	74	71			3	-145
	Quincy QUEK	72	73			3	-145
	Ryuji MASAOKA	70	76			4	-146
	Udayan MANE	74	72			4	-146
	Tomoyo IKEMURA	74	72			4	-146
	Terry PILKADARIS	69	77			4	-146
	Rattanon WANNASRICHAN	70	76			4	-146
	Angelo QUE	71	75			4	-146
	Mitchell SLORACH	69	77			4	-146
	Yosuke TSUKADA	73	73			4	-146
	Pavit TANGKAMOLPRASERT	74	72			4	-146
	Jordan ZUNIC	74	73			5	-147
	Michael HENDRY	72	75			5	-147
	Hosung CHOI	75	72			5	-147
	Yikeun CHANG	76	71			5	-147
	Adam BLYTH	75	72			5	-147
	S.S.P. CHAWRASIA	74	73			5	-147
	Daniel CHOPRA	73	74			5	-147
	Lionel WEBER	70	78			6	-148
	Clyde MONDILLA	73	75			6	-148
	Prom MEESAWAT	71	77			6	-148
	Rikuya HOSHINO	73	75			6	-148
	Yosuke ASAJI	74	74			6	-148
	Wonjoon LEE	76	73			7	-149
	Daisuke MATSUBARA	74	75			7	-149
	Yoshitaka TAKEYA	74	75			7	-149
	Johnson POH	74	75			7	-149
	Adam BLAND	71	78			7	-149
	Tadahiro TAKAYAMA	75	75			8	-150
	Adilson DA SILVA	73	77			8	-150
	Tatsunori NUKAGA	73	77			8	-150
	Wolmer MURILLO	72	78			8	-150
	Rashid KHAN	75	75			8	-150
	Bowen XIAO	79	71			8	-150
	Yasunobu FUKUNAGA	73	77			8	-150
	Masanori KOBAYASHI	77	73			8	-150
	Michio MATSUMURA	76	75			9	-151
	Seunghyuk KIM	72	79			9	-151
	Mardan MAMAT	74	78			10	-152
	Juvic PAGUNSAN	78	74			10	-152
	Scott STRANGE	76	76			10	-152
	Chiragh KUMAR	73	79			10	-152
	Shunsuke SONODA	75	77			10	-152
	George GANDRANATA	81	72			11	-153
	Robert ALLENBY	76	77			11	-153
	Yuxin LIN (A)	75	78			11	-153
	Ji-man KANG	76	77			11	-153
	Zaw MOE	77	77			12	-154
	Micah Lauren SHIN	75	79			12	-154
	Marc ONG (A)	73	81			12	-154
	Junwon PARK	76	78			12	-154
	Inhoi HUR	75	80			13	-155
	Tatsuya KODAI	77	78			13	-155
	Joshua SHOU (A)	78	78			14	-156
	Jeev Milkha SINGH	81	76			15	-157
	Katsumasa MIYAMOTO	80	79			17	-159
	Konosuke NAKAZATO	81	79			18	-160
	Rahil GANGJEE (ret)	72	5			Par
	Jinichiro KOZUMA (ret)	79	1			Par