He may have tamed Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines course on the first three days of the Singapore International Series earlier this month.
With a 19-under total over four rounds with scores of 64, 66, 66 and 73, Spaniard David Puig was simply sensational.
Sitting on a very comfortable — to many, just unbeatable – nine-shot lead over second-placed South Korean Jaewoong Eom, you could have inscribed Puig’s name on the winner’s trophy beforehand.
But even Puig was not too optimistic before he teed off on the final day. For the championship course is not one easily conquered by any golfer.
The Spaniard set a game-plan for the fourth day: to be safe and conservative and not to take chances on the challenging course.
And he played a one-over (73) on the final day to win the US$360,000 winner’s purse by five shots over Eom.
“Tampines is a fabulous course and not one easy to conquer,” said Puig. “I had some lucky breaks on the first three days although I played very well. I really enjoyed the experience,” said Puig after bagging only one birdie and ruing two bogeys on the final day as against eight birdies on the first day.
Like Puig, many golfers in the 144-player field praised the course for its superb maintenance, degree of difficulty and fabulous layout. My pro-am partner Englishman Steve Lewton said: “It’s a great course, with a mix of tricky holes and a few forgiving ones.
“But the undulating greens are difficult, and this is where Tampines can bite back.”
The course certainly bit back at Puig on the last day after three marvellous rounds. And that’s’ why it is a challenging course. Kudos to the Club’s Tour Event Committee members led by Captain Dr Goh Hoon Pur and General Committee Members Benny Tay, Joey Chang, Chris Chiu and Melvin Choo.
Also, all the Singapore pros in the 16-player Singapore entry suffered. And that too although some are so very familiar with the Tampines course.
However, rookie Puig, playing on Tampines for the first time, did impress with some remarkable shots to win for the first time since he turned pro last year.
The 21-year-old Spaniard settled for a 19-under 269 total although his overnight nine-shot lead was trimmed down by South Korean Eom in the USS$2 million event.
Puig’s Mexican caddie Alberto Sanchez, who grabbed the flag on the final green as a souvenir, said: “We decided on a no-risk game plan, knowing that golfing history had shown that big-leads can be squandered on the final day. Patience pays.”
After his winning putt, Puig showed little emotion, just raising his right fist to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd. He did offer a wide smile when his physiotherapist Ericka and Otiz brothers, Alvaro and Carlos, drenched him with showers of beer outside the final green.
The fans truly enjoyed the shifting positions from second to sixth with Eom being chased by Andy Ogletree, Poom Saksansin, Taichi Kho, Tomoharu Otsuki and Berry Henson.
In the end, Ogletree (69) and Saksansin (68) finished joint-third on 276 and Otsuki (69) fifth on 277.
And while the fans kept their focus on the leaderboard, from out of the blue came a spark from Singapore’s amateur Ryan Ang, the only local among 16 players to make the cut.
Ang, 24, a fourth-year accountancy student from the Singapore Management University, raised the eyebrows with an eagle on his finishing hole to shoot a 68 for joint-23rd spot, totaling six-under 282.
On the par-five 625-yard 18th hole, he used a 60-degree wedge to hole out from 71 yards with his third shot, the ball taking one bounce and spinning backwards into the hole.
If Ang was elated, so was Japanese Jinichiro Kozuma, who bagged an ace on the 164-yard 16th hole with a nine-iron and won the keys for a new BYD SEAL EV electric car.
There was a second hole-in-one when International Series Order of Merit leader Ogletree holed out on the tough 230-yard fourth hole with a four-iron, but since it was not a designated hole, he ended up with just handshakes.
Both winners were presented with hole-in-one certificates by Club Captain Dr Goh Hoon Pur.
