Quincy Quek wins after 20-month drought
After a drought of almost 20 months, Quincy Quek found the winning touch yesterday.
And the affable 28-year-old, whose last victory was an SPGA event at Laguna National in mid-2014, did it in style.
He claimed the seventh and last event of the Singapore Professional Golfers Association Series by a massive four shots.
Despite the big margin, Quincy felt that the $25,000 event, presented by AIM Ventures and FEC Golf Classic at Batam's Tering Bay, had the potential for a closer finish.
"The course, on which I was playing for the first time, was good but tricky.
"And unless you putt well and read the breaks well, you could see your lead whittle away.
"But I played consistent golf, with rounds of 72, 71 and 71 to earn a good victory."
Quek finished ahead of Mitchell Slorach (218) to bag the $2,700 top purse. Three players - Goh Kun Yang, Johnson Poh and Choo Tze Huang - shared third place on 221.
Choo also shot the three-day event's lowest score of three-under 69 yesterday.
The victory gave Quek a big boost as he went through a difficult year, playing in China, the Asian Tour and the SPGA events.
Quek, who lost his China Tour card recently, said: "It was not that I had been playing badly. I was hitting the ball well, but not scoring.
"It had often been that I was not sinking the vital putts and found myself outside the cutline only just."
Quek, No. 4 on the SPGA Order of Merit, bagged four birdies and rued three bogeys yesterday.
He will focus on the Asian Tour and Development Tour events for the new year.
And for that, he will attend the final stage of the Qualifying School at Springfield in Hua Hin, Thailand, in a fortnight's time and hope to get a Tour card.
FINAL SCORES:
214: Quincy Quek 72-71-71.
218: Mitchell Slorach 72-74-72.
221: Goh Kun Yang 74-74-73, Johnson Poh 79-70-72, Choo Tze Huang 73-79-69.
222: Poh Eng Wah 70-77-75, Jerome Ng 74-76-72.
223: Dino Kwek 72-75-76.
225: Reagan Png 72-75-78.
227: Jonathan Woo 75-79-73.
228: Peter Ang 76-74-78, M. Murugiah 75-76-77, V. Thanggaraju 75-76-77, Eugene Sim 77-75-76.
SENIORS:
241: Freddy Leow 77-80-84.
243: Ahmad Sani 91-75-77.
247: M. Balraj 87-80-80.
AMATEURS:
223: Adi 74-75-74.
234: Alex Tarigan 80-77-77.
237: Rodeo 78-79-80.
Raffles to stage first ADT event in S'pore
Singapore will stage its first Asian Development Tour (ADT) event since the Asian Tour's secondary golf circuit was inaugurated in 2010.
Boasting a prize purse of US$100,000 ($140,000), The Players Championship will be held at the Raffles Country Club's (RCC) Palm course from Jan 20 to 23.
The event comes two months after Singapore staged an Asian Tour event at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club.
It will provide a boost to the local professionals, coming a week before the US$1 million Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Singapore Open at Sentosa's Serapong course for which world No. 1 Jordan Spieth is the main drawcard.
NEW TALENTS
Asian Tour's Commissioner Kyi Hla Han is looking forward to a good contest and is confident new talents will also emerge at The Players Championship.
"The success of the ADT speaks volumes about the talent here in Asia.
"Every playing opportunity counts and we are committed to providing these players with the best opportunities to further develop their professional careers," said Han.
RCC president Daniel Goh believes the Palm Course will provide a good challenge and is excited to play host to top-level professional golf at the club.
Said Dr Goh: "We support golf not only locally but also regionally. Our 27-year-old Palm course is a grand old dame. It is still in good playing order and excites golfers with many different challenges."
Local pro Koh Dengshan, 28, who enjoyed one top-10 finish at the ADT this season, is excited about the event.
Koh (above) said: "Getting to play on my home course is an advantage for me. Regular exposure on the ADT will raise the standard of my game."
- GODFREY ROBERT
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