Scott leaves field in wake with magnificent-seven performance
Australian Adam Scott produced a virtuoso performance to lift the title by seven shots in the US$2 million Singapore Open yesterday and earn his third victory of the year.
The 25-year-old Scott, the world number seven, carded a spectacular six-under-par 65 in the final round at Sentosa Golf Club's Serapong course, pocketing the champion's cheque of US$315,000 in Asia's richest national Open.
His winning total of 13-under-par 271 was well clear of second placed Lee Westwood of England, who signed off with a 68 and a tournament aggregate of 278. Asian Tour rookie Andrew Buckle was third on 279 while Asia's best placed finisher was South Korea's Ted Oh, who ended on 281 after a 70.
Thai star Thongchai Jaidee regained the lead at the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit with his fifth place finish in Sentosa, closing with a 74.
'Asia has been great to me,' said Scott, who won the Johnnie Walker Classic in Beijing in April. 'I played a good round of golf this afternoon and there you go, I've got this big trophy over here, my first national championship too.'
'Any time you win you are absolutely thrilled. This will probably have some special meaning to it when I look back at the end of my career. It's not just my first national Open, I hope there are a lot more to come. It's something special, whether it is the US, Australian or Singapore Open.'
Scott's tremendous display in the championship, billed as the Asian Tour's 'major' by some players, was a joy to watch. He returned early in the morning to complete four holes of his delayed third round and birdied three of them for a 67 and a one-shot lead going into the final round.
Under steamy conditions over the challenging Serapong course, which yielded only five under-par scores for the championship, the supremely talented Aussie enjoyed a glorious start to his final round.
He nailed a tee shot to two feet at the par-three second hole for an opening birdie and then sank a 20-footer at the next for a second birdie. Scott then belted a four-iron to six feet on the par-five fourth hole and converted the eagle putt for a five-stroke advantage and never looked back.
'Today, I was smart and had a game plan. I seemed to execute just how I wanted to. It was an ideal final round for me.
'I got off to a bit of a flier. It was the perfect start and it was going to make it really hard for anyone to come up and challenge,' said Scott, who carded three birdies and a bogey on his inward nine.
'After that start it settled me down straight away.'
Ryder Cup star Westwood, who started the final round four off the pace, picked up early birdies on the second and fourth holes but failed to keep the momentum going as Scott romped home.
'It was nice to be there or there abouts. Adam played great and finished off strong in the third round. I couldn't imagine anyone getting to 13 under. I felt six under at the start of the week would have a chance. For me to be six under, I'm quite pleased,' said Westwood.
