Sentosa, Singapore, January 16: Thailand’s Kosuke Hamamoto showed he can be the man for the big occasion when he signed for an opening six-under-par 65 to take the first round  lead at the SMBC Singapore Open on Thursday.

Despite playing at the US$1 million Singapore showpiece for the first time, the 20-year-old  displayed maturity beyond his years as he outplayed several of the tournament’s marquee names that include former world number one Justin Rose of England, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, American Matt Kuchar and 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand.

Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul showed his consistency yet again by signing for a 66 to trail Hamamoto by one shot in a share of second place that included Canada’s Richard T. Lee, Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino and American Matt Kuchar, who managed to complete his round in near darkness.

17-year-old Joohyung Kim of Korea, who is the youngest player in the field and making his SMBC Singapore Open debut, continued to show his potential as he posted a 67 to end his day in tied-sixth place alongside Korea’s Inhoi Hur and Jazz.

Jazz started his title defence with a promising 67 while Rose and Stenson are a further shot back from the defending champion in tied-ninth place after returning with matching 68s.

SINGAPORE-Gunn Charoenkul of Thailand pictured Thursday January 16,2020, during round one of the SMBC Singapore Open at the Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore. The USD$ 1 million event is co- sanctioned with the Asian Tour and Japan Tour, January 16-19, 2020. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Lagardére Sports.

Did you know?

• Kosuke Hamamoto, whose father is Japanese and mother is Thai, is making his first appearance at the SMBC Singapore Open this week.
• The 20-year-old Thai, who turned professional last year, started playing golf at the age of eight. He is a former Thai Amateur star, South East Asia (SEA) Games individual gold medalist and was part of the first Thai team to win the Nomura Cup in Malaysia in 2017.
• He was also part of Team Thailand that finished second in the Team event at the SEA Games in 2017.
• Kosuke enjoyed a solid rookie season on the Asian Tour in 2019. He came in runner-up in Chinese Taipei last September to virtually seal his card for the 2020 season. He eventually finished in 31st place on the Order of Merit, thanks to two top-10s.
• Richard T. Lee is a two-time Asian Tour winner. He won his maiden title at the Solaire Open in 2014 and claimed his second victory at the Shinhan Donghae Open in 2017.
• The 28-year-old Lee capped three top-10 finishes in 2019 to finish 33rd on the Order of Merit and retain his playing rights for the 2020 season.
• His last professional win came in April 2019 when he won The 15th DB Insurance Promy Open on the Korean PGA Tour.
• Lee enjoyed his career-best finish on the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2015 where he finished in seventh place.
• Lee finished as runner-up at his qualifier to earn entry to the 2007 U.S. Open, becoming the second youngest golfer in the 107-year history of the tournament. However, he did not finish the tournament as he injured his wrist in the second round. He finished at 20-over and turned professional when the tournament concluded.
• Since the start of the 2019 season, Gunn Charoenkul has posted 20 top-10 finishes across all Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) events on various Tours worldwide.
• His best finishes on the Asian Tour have been two runners-up. In addition to finishing second in Jakarta last December he also did so at the 2016 Queen’s Cup.
• Joohyung Kim is the youngest player in the field this week. At 17, he announced his arrival on the world stage with his maiden Asian Tour win at the Panasonic Open India last year.
• Kim earned a battlefield promotion from the Asian Development Tour (ADT) to the Asian Tour by winning three ADT events in the same season: the PGM ADT Championship @ Tiara Melaka, the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament presented by Panasonic and the Raya Pakistan Open in 2019.

Sentosa, Singapore, January 16: Read what players have to say following the opening round of the SMBC Singapore Open on Thursday.

Kosuke Hamamoto (Tha) First round 65 (-6)
To be honest, I’m just really happy to be playing in this prestigious event. I just came into the week with the mindset that I should be grateful and thankful for this opportunity to play at the SMBC Singapore Open. I just went out there to have fun and tried not to put too much pressure on myself. I’ve been trying to work as hard as possible after graduating from Qualifying School and the results are finally beginning to show. You need to believe in yourself that you can perform and luckily I managed to do it today. This is one of the best golf courses I’ve ever played in Asia and it required you to play smartly and hit good shots where you can be rewarded if you are able to do so.

Gunn Charoenkul of Thailand

Gunn Charoenkul (Tha) – First round 66 (-5)

I have been playing very conservatively today, I didn’t go for any Par-fives today, and told my caddie today there’s no point going for it in two today, it’s just the first day of the tournament.

Today I have been putting very well, there were some speed problem during mid round after the rain delay, but managed to keep a safe par and saved my bogey on 15 as well, so that kept my momentum going, and then managed to bounce back on 16th and 17th for birdie as well.

I couldn’t take the lead but I’m very happy with my round today. To be honest, there have been so many people that were sharing with me and asking like how have you played and you have been very close so far and I’ve been even starting to dream about winning tournaments.

I think that’s my inner desire probably! But I will try to put it at the back of my head, concentrate on the game and see how I play the next three days. This one is going to The Open and it will be great to be back there again because I really love playing the links course even though last year was my first time, playing in the real winners’ stuff and will be great to take all my family there and enjoy a Major.

Henrik Stenson (Sweden) – First round 68 (-3)

Yeah it was good. The first round of the year, I am pretty pleased with the way I played. A good start with birdies on my first two holes, 10 and 11, and shot three under.

I would not say I played the best round of my career but it was certainly the best round of the year so far (it was his first). I think my putting was on today, I made some really good putts, some for birdies and some for par saves.

I hit a few iron shots really close and gave myself some easy birdies but at the same time there were a few approach shots that were not very good and I had to work hard to make the par so I need to be a little bit better with my irons tomorrow.

The course is in great condition. The greens are rolling really well, they are quick which makes them really hard at times if you are in the wrong place. You get some really slick and quick putts.

I was happy to start off the year and get going again. It is always on the wish list to hope you are going to do better the next day but golf is an outdoor sport. We do not know it may blow three times as hard and 71 may be a great score tomorrow. You do not know what is coming. So we will take one day at a time and I can only try to play my best round every day and we will add it all up come Sunday.

Justin Rose (England) – First round 68 (-3)

A good score. My game was not exactly great. I did not hit many good shots today but I think I managed my game very well. I was never in a lot of trouble so even though I was not playing well I always managed to be in decent positions – managing the bad shots, I guess.

Very happy to make some birdies on the back nine and shoot three under. I think three under is a good start.

There is a lot I have to work on. The best part of my game today was managing the golf course. This golf course is a course when you need to be in position – if you miss on the wrong side it is very difficult to get the ball up and down because the greens are so fast.

I could have played the par fives better. I hit good tee shots but then I messed up the par fives from there, number 18, number 7. I had really good opportunities. Those are the only parts of my round that I think I could have done better. The rest of it, I actually did a pretty good job to hang in there.

Ryo Ishikawa played really good today. Obviously he shot two under which is a good solid start. He played very aggressively – he hit a lot of drivers. Especially on the front nine I was impressed by how well he hit the driver. He always looks good. He has a very graceful, cool looking swing. He has got a lot of style. He always looks good with a putter in his hand. He is a lovely guy so I enjoyed my day with him.

I am excited about tomorrow. I think every day hopefully I can get a little bit more comfortable with my game. This is the first round of 2020 for me. It is good to get it in the 60s so hopefully it is something I can build on. I feel like I can make more putts and I feel I can hit the ball a little bit better. So I am excited about trying to get better each day.

Ryo Ishikawa of Japan

Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) – First round 69 (-2)

My round was not bad, considering the difficult setup of the course. I think that if I can continue doing what I did today I’ll find myself in a good position.

My putting was okay, but I left myself a lot of long putts so I need to work on my iron game.

I need to hit it closer to the pin and I think it is something that I’ll have to keep working on throughout the year.

It was a lot of fun playing with Justin (Rose). He is such a gentleman and it was a pleasure playing with him.

He always plays flawless golf but I could see he was getting a little frustrated on the par 5s. Even the very best players get frustrated.

He plays a very different game from mine and there are parts that I envy, but I am here to compete. Rather than trying to learn from him, I want to compete with my own game.

Tomorrow will be another important round so I’ll look to play with a fresh mindset, and hopefully I can go into the final rounds in a good position.

Joohyung Kim (Kor) First round 67 (-4)
It was great. The wind really picked up in the morning, I was just trying to put some good scores in the morning, and unfortunately you won’t be able to do that in the morning. It is a hard course itself but it became even harder when the wind had picked up. The game plan went pretty well, I made a few putts and was able to score. I have been playing quite consistently. I am very fortunate as well to be able to play consistently but obviously it’s my first season so I am just trying to learn every single week. I am trying to hit a lot of fairways and greens, I think that is very important here. I am trying to find the good spots I missed and hopefully make some putts like today. I love Singapore. I have been here a couple of times but this is my first time here for a tournament, and so far it has been great.

Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) First round 67 (-4)
The score is not bad although I left a bit out there. It’s still the first round, so there’s no need to go too serious about this now. It’s still a good score so I’m pretty happy with it. There were some pins out there where I remembered where I hit it last year. So it’s good, especially with these fond memories. It has been pretty good playing with Justin Rose and Ryo Ishikawa today. We started pretty slowly but once we got it going, everyone kind of fed off each other. I don’t know how the wind is going to be tomorrow. It was pretty windy today, so we’ll play according to the wind.

Miguel Tabuena (Phi) First round 68 (-3)
I’m pretty disappointed with my two bogeys. I was right in front of the wind and I just hit horribly. But it’s okay, I’ve a good track record here and I’ve never finished outside the top 15 ever in this tournament. It can be tight on the tee if you start to spray it but if you’re a bit better and can see the line, the greens are pretty clear so we have some great chances going in.
I missed qualifying for The Open by one shot for two years in a row. So hopefully it goes my way this time.

Sentosa, Singapore, January 15: Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond is ready to light up the stage again as he aims to become the second player in the history books of the Singapore Open to successfully defend his title when the SMBC Singapore Open starts on Thursday.

It has been more than a decade since Australia’s Adam Scott retained the iconic Singapore Open title at the Serapong Course in Sentosa Golf Club in 2005 and 2006, which is also the Home of the Asian Tour.

But with the form that the 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion is currently enjoying, he is once again expected to be one of the favourites for the Singapore showpiece, which continues to be part of The Open Qualifying Series for the fourth consecutive year.

Jazz enjoyed a season like no other in 2019 when he swept aside all his rivals with four victories along with capturing the coveted Order of Merit trophy.

Korea’s Doyeob Mun, who secured one of the four spots to The Open at the SMBC Singapore Open last year, still holds vivid memories of his last outing to the Lion City and is relishing the challenges at the Serapong course again.

Singapore’s highest ranked professional Quincy Quek is also back on home soil along with promising amateur James Leow, ready to fly the country’s flag.

Quek, a two-time Asian Development Tour (ADT) winner, emerged as the best amateur at the 2007 edition while Leow won the South East Asian (SEA) Games individual Gold medal in Philippines last December.

SINGAPORE-The SMBC Singapore Open at the Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore. The USD$ 1 million event is co- sanctioned with the Asian Tour and Japan Tour, January 9-12, 2020. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Lagardére Sports.

Did you know?

• In 14 Asian Tour starts last season, Jazz Janewattananond won four times, had eight top-fives and finished inside the top-10 on 10 occasions, or a 28.6% win, 57.1% top-five and 71.4% top-10 percentage.
• He became only the second player in Asian Tour history to win four events in the same season. The only player to do so previously was compatriot Thaworn Wiratchant in 2005.
• Jazz surpassed US$1,000,000 in earnings last season. Before that, this record had only been achieved by Jeev Milkha Singh (2008), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (2013), Anirban Lahiri (2015) and Scott Hend (2016).
• With his results and Order of Merit win in 2019, Jazz will be exempt for three out of the four Majors in 2020, the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship and the Open. He has also qualified for two of the World Golf Championships- WGC-Mexico and WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
• Apart from winning the coveted 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit title, Jazz was also voted as the Players’ Player of the Year.
• He topped the statistics categories for Lowest Stroke Average with his record of 68.28 strokes and Total Birdies made with 265 from a total of 15 tournaments throughout his season on the Asian Tour.
• Jazz started off his season with a fourth-placed finish at the Hong Kong Open last week.
• Doyeob Mun enjoyed a tied-fifth place finish at the 2019 SMBC Singapore Open, which helped him secure one of the four spots on offer to The 148th Open where he made his Major debut last July.
• Mun had made an albatross on the par-five fourth hole at the Serapong course last year to sign for a second round 65. It was the first and only one recorded in the 2019 Asian Tour season.
• The 28-year-old Korean enjoyed another top-10 finish in Chinese Taipei in September and finished in 39th place on the 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit to retain his playing rights for the 2020 season.
• Singapore’s highest ranked professional, Quincy Quek (496^th on the OWGR) is coming off his best season as a professional.
• In 2019, Quek won two titles, the PGM Northport ADT Championship on the Asian Development Tour and the Haikou Classic on the PGA Tour Series China.
• Two years ago, Quek welcomed the birth of his daughter, Olivia on the Monday of the SMBC Singapore Open week. He finished tied-26^th for the tournament, which remains his best result at the SMBC Singapore Open so far.
• Singapore’s James Leow, who won the individual gold medal at the 2019 SEA games and
• also finished tied-fifth at the 2019 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, is playing in his second competitive event of the year this week.
• Leow teed up at the Hong Kong Open last week where he finished in tied-65^th
• The leading four players (not otherwise exempt) who finish in the top 12 and ties on the final leaderboard will earn coveted spots at the 149th Open at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Kent, England from July 16-19.

Ends.

Hong Kong, January 12: Australia’s Wade Ormsby won the Hong Kong Open for the second time when he cruised to victory by closing with a four-under-par 66 at the Hong Kong Golf Club on Sunday.

Unlike his first win at the Hong Kong Open in 2017 where he won by a single shot, Ormsby enjoyed a more comfortable victory as he triumphed by four shots over Major champion Shane Lowry of Ireland.

The Australian did not get off to the best of starts when he stumbled with an opening bogey. However, he recovered quickly with three consecutive birdies from the second hole before adding another on nine to take a five-shot lead at the turn then.

Ormsby birdied 11 but dropped another shot on 15 before another birdie on 17 effectively confirmed his wire-to-wire victory as he closed with a winning total of 17-under-par.

Lowry surmounted a late charge by storming up the leaderboard with a 64, having started the day six shots back of Ormsby in a share of ninth place. However, his gallant efforts were not enough to catch the Australian and he had to settle for second place.

Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul enjoyed yet another top-10 finish as he posted a 69 to take third place while 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, Jazz Janewattananond carded a 68 to take outright fourth place ahead of American Tony Finau, who finished in fifth place after a 67.

HONG KONG- Shane Lowry of Ireland pictured on Sunday January 12, 2020 during the final round of the Hong Kong Open at the Fanling Golf Club, Fanling, Hong Kong, the Asian Tour USD$ 1 million event is the season opener. Picture by Paul Lakatos / Asian Tour.

Did you know?

• With his victory, Wade Ormsby became the second wire-to-wire winner of the Hong Kong Open after England’s Aaron Rai (2018).
• In 2017, Ormsby won the Hong Kong Open by one-shot with a final round two-under-par 68.
• Ormsby finished 79th on last year’s Race to Dubai on the European Tour and had four top-10s. A tied-second finish at the ISPS HANDA Vic Open was his best result of the year in 2019.
• Shane Lowry has played the Hong Kong Open twice previously in 2009 and 2010 with missed cuts as results.
• The Australian won his first Asian Tour title at the Panasonic Open India in 2013 and was playing on a sponsor’s invitation this week.
• Shane Lowry’s second place finish was his best result at the Hong Kong Open. He played the Hong Kong Open twice previously in 2009 and 2010 with missed cuts as results.
• Lowry won The Open last year at Royal Portrush which was considered the highlight of the Irishman’s career.
• This six-shot victory brought him to 17th on the OWGR, the highest ranking of his career.
• Gunn Charoenkul enjoyed yet another top-10 finish in his first event of 2020.
• In all his events played in 2019 that were Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) events, he posted 19 top-10 finishes across all tours.
• His best finishes on the Asian Tour have been two runners-up. In addition to finishing second in Jakarta last December he also did so at the 2016 Queen’s Cup.

Ends.

Wade Ormsby (Aus) Fourth round 66 (-4) Total 263 (-17)

I’ve been working my guts out the last 14 to 15 months trying to take my game to the next level. And like I just said, Australian PGA three weeks ago, losing that one really hurt me so I’ll put a few changes in place. I worked out over the break and to come back here and get the win so soon, can’t put it into words really. It’s still nerve-racking coming down the stretch you know, like that 18th hole, it can do anything to you but I got the tee-shot in play and hit a weak iron shot into it but anyway. Four on the card and won by four, so I’m very happy. I was playing great, you always got to play the Hong Kong Golf Club the same way. The wind obviously changes but you still try and fly it to the same spot. Obviously didn’t get off to a great start, made a huge putt one and that kind of set the tone. After that, I felt good out there I just had to keep doing my thing because I knew I was playing really good. So yeah, I think the game plan was the same. When you get in front there’s no point in changing that, no point trying to play defensive. The guys had to come and catch me basically. I was hoping to win this season but to do it in week two of the year in my first event is special and it will be one I’ll remember forever.

I have three wins on the main tours in my career and this is my first wire-to-wire. I’m very proud of my play this week. Going through what I went through three weeks ago, that kind of hit me pretty hard. I didn’t even want to know the game for three or four days, but to come back and do what I’ve done this week, like I said, proud of myself and proud of my team.

Shane Lowry (Ire) Fourth round 64 (-6), Total 267 (-13)

I’m very happy with myself, fair play to Wade, he’s run away with it and didn’t really give us a chance but I went out there and did as much as I could. 64 around here is a pretty good score in these conditions. I got so much out of this week. I played some good golf and had a good time. I’ve got my whole team here, it was a really enjoyable experience. Hopefully I can come back some time soon. It’s a golf course I obviously didn’t have much success on in the past but I’m a different player than I was then, and I really enjoyed it this week. It’s a great golf course and a great place to play a tournament. Everything about Hong Kong and my week has been really good. I said to my caddy going down the last [hole] we need to start picking courses that suit me and I think this is one of the courses that suits me.

HONG KONG-Gunn Charoenkul of Thailand pictured on Sunday, January 12, 2020 during the final round of the Hong Kong Open at the Fanling Golf Club, Fanling, Hong Kong, the Asian Tour USD$ 1 million event is the season opener. Picture by Paul Lakatos / Asian Tour.

Gunn Charoenkul (Tha) Fourth round 69 (-1) Total 268 (-12)

Honestly, I felt the pressure. I started off good when I birdied the second hole and then a little mishap killed the momentum on the third. And then just kept burning the edge all day. Most of the time I didn’t hit it close, but I made a lot of good putts out there today and didn’t make one until 16.  I think I was a little mentally tired today as well. My legs gave out on me on a lot of holes so for next week, I got to go back and work out a little bit on my legs. I think they are a little stiff. Overall, I’m very happy with my game and really looking forward to next week. I’m really enjoying my time out there even though I’m not scoring anything. Winning will come when and when it’s time. So I just keep prepping myself out there and then when the time comes, I think I’ll take the win. A lot of great players are coming out here and I think it’s a good time for Asian Tour as well. Some of the top players in the world are coming. So I think that will push Hong Kong Open for next year and you know I really look forward to coming back.

Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) Fourth round 68 (-2) Total 269 (-11)

Although I did not win, it’s still a pretty good result as I left so many shots out there. I knew I was probably not going to win because Ormsby played really good and that’s a fantastic score. It’s going to be very hard to beat him here at this golf course. He’s won here before and now he’s a two-time time winner. There are a couple of things I need changing, so I’ll try to do it before next week. Hopefully I can repeat what I did last year next week. I really like to shake off my rust and I got a couple things to work with and we’ll see, I think it’ll definitely help for sure that I came here this week to play. So, looking forward to next week where it’s a course I really like I guess if you play good golf then good things will come, but if you don’t no one is going to talk about you. So just got to keep practicing and playing good golf.