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Noel Prentice

James Stewart punched the air after draining a 20-foot putt on the last hole and walked off feeling and looking like a winner. And that's what he hopes to be next year - armed with more strength, belief and consistency.

Hong Kong's leading golfer finished with a faultless five-under-par 65 yesterday to bookend his opening day 67, which are leaderboard scores in most tournaments. Unfortunately, his two middle rounds of 73 and 75 let him down and he finished even par overall.

Former US Open winner Michael Campbell finished three strokes behind him, while a two-time winner of that major, Retief Goosen, didn't even make the cut.

Stewart gets to play in about half of the Asian Tour events thanks to country exemptions given to Hong Kong, but in the past few months he has reinforced his belief that he belongs full-time on the tour.

'I have made the last four cuts,' he said. 'I have two or three good rounds in each tournament and one bad round that stops me from having a really good finish. I just need to get a bit more consistent.

'Some of it is in my mind, some of it's confidence, some practice. I know what I am capable of doing. It's just a matter of becoming more consistent.

'As my scores reflect this week, I had two good rounds and two not-so-good rounds so if I can level off those two rounds then I will start having better finishes,' said Stewart, who plans to spend a lot more time on his physical condition because injury has also plagued him this year.

He has played in 12 events on the Asian Tour this year and more than doubled his previous winnings (US$6,856) with yesterday's 48th place finish - his best at a Hong Kong Open - which was worth US$8,800.

'Shooting a 65 on a Sunday anywhere in the world is always good,' he said. 'It's a good feeling inside to be able to back up a 75 with a 65.

'The third round was disappointing, but there is nothing you can do about it. I'm proud of what I've done today. I did everything well and kept bogeys off the scorecard. The conditions were a little easier today. Being second out there were no spike marks on the greens.

'It shows I'm heading in the right direction. It's a great way to finish the year off and I hope it will lead to better things next year,' said Stewart, who plans to start with all guns blazing at the Philippines Open in Manila on January 11-14.



Thrilled Stewart seeks greater consistency