The Shinhan Donghae Open witnessed some phenomenally low scoring last Sunday.

The champion, Kensei Hirata from Japan, finished 22-under-par at Ocean Course at Club72 in Incheon, helped by a third round 10-under-par 62 – the best score of the week.

Preferred lies were in play, meaning nothing counted officially, but it was still representative of a sky-high skill level, nearly matched by Australian Travis Smyth, who finished one shot back in second place.

The Australian, playing some of the best golf of his career, went out in eight-under-par 28 on the last day, helped by making birdie on the first seven holes. The official record is nine in-a-row, which Austrian Bern Wiesberger did at the Maybank Championship in 2017.

Travis Smyth. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

Smyth came home with nine straight pars for a 64 and his third runner-up finish on the Asian Tour, to go along with his one win so far, the 2022 Yeangder TPC in Chinese-Taipei. It was also his fifth top-10 result of the season and moved him up five spots to sixth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Not surprisingly such good golf by the top two saw them lead the way in putting statistics. Hirata ranked first in both Putts per Green in Regulation (GIR) and Putts per Round, with 1.58 and 25.5 respectively, while Smyth was second in Putts per GIR on 1.60 and fourth in Putts per Round with 26.25.

Of the players that finished inside the top-10 six of them were also ranked in the top-10 of the Putts per GIR category.

Smyth topped two statistics categories: Fewest Bogies or worse with just three, along with Filipino Miguel Tabuena, and he was first in Scrambling, getting up and down 85% of the time.

Ian Snyman. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

It all bodes well for the 29-year-old from Sydney, who competes in the Yeangder TPC the week after next, where as well as winning two years ago, he finished second last year.

Ian Snyman also caught the eye last week. The South African tied for 13^th and topped the GIR section with a solid 84.72%.

Statistics Categories leaders at the 40^th Shinhan Donghae Open (of players making the cut):

• Putts per Round: Kensei Hirata (JPN) 25.5
• Putts per GIR: Kensei Hirata (JPN) 1.58
• GIR: Ian Snyman (RSA) 84.72%
• Fairways Hit: Kosuki Suzuki (JPN) 87.5%
• Driving Distance: Riki Kawamoto (JPN) 337.4 Yards
• Total Eagles: Yongjun Bae (KOR) 3
• Total Birdies: Minkyu Kim (KOR) 27
• Fewest Bogies or Worse: Travis Smyth (AUS), Miguel Tabuena (PHI) 3
• Scrambling: Travis Smyth (AUS) 85%