Source:
https://scmp.com/article/18602/watts-love-taste-success

Watts in love with taste of success

AMERICAN Brian Watts celebrated Valentine's Day by kissing the biggest pay cheque of his career after winning the Kent Hongkong Open at Fanling yesterday.

The little-known Watts grimly held off a brave challenge by Taiwan's Chen Tse-chung to win the first leg of the 1993 Asian Tour by one stroke.

''It is great to win a tournament at this level. I have never done it before and it feels great,'' said Watts, who turned professional in 1989.

Having shot sub par rounds of 63, 69 and 68 on the first three days, Watts faltered under intense pressure and a swirling wind to shoot three-over-par 74 on the final day.

His 10-under 174 was enough for the 26-year-old American, a front-runner from the start, to gleefully accept the winner's purse of US$41,650 (HK$322,000) from Chief Secretary Sir David Ford.

Although declining to reveal the identity of his Valentine, the Oklahoma State University graduate, who is still single, said there was someone, ''not my wife . . . somewhere in the United States''.

The tense victory was a fitting climax to a tournament which boasted golfing superstars Seve Ballesteros of Spain and American all-time great Tom Watson and which was declared an overwhelming success by sponsors, organisers and spectators.