Kazuki Higa of Japan Picture: Korean PGA Tour
Japan’s Kazuki Higa held his nerve in a tense finish to win the Shinhan Donghae Open for the second time in his career.
The 30-year-old closed with a four-under-par 68 at Bears Best Cheongna Golf Club to finish on 18-under-par, one stroke clear of Canada’s Richard T. Lee and Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, who carded rounds of 67 and 68 respectively. Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho and Thailand’s Danthai Boonma tied for fourth, just one shot further back.
Higa, who first won this event in 2022 when it was staged in Japan, looked unstoppable after opening with four straight birdies to move three ahead at the turn. But the final nine holes turned into a battle.
He saved par at the 10th with a clutch eight-footer to stay two clear of Lee, then dropped a shot at the 13th to reduce his advantage to just one. With Vincent also lurking two behind, the title was still in doubt heading to the par-five 18th.
Lee’s drive found water and Vincent was bunkered, giving Higa the upper hand. But after Lee made a remarkable par save from 15 feet, the Japanese star still needed to get up-and-down from behind the green. He responded with a deft chip to two feet and calmly tapped in for victory.
“Very relieved to win,” said Higa, who stands just 158cm but is renowned for his all-round game. “It got a little tough. There were a few missed shots and a lot of pressure on the back nine. I am glad my game held up. It’s the first time I have won an event twice.”
The win marks Higa’s eighth title on the Japan Golf Tour, four of which came during his breakout 2022 season. He revealed he has worked hard on adding distance since then. The tournament was tri-sanctioned by the Asian, Korean and Japan Tours.
“The past two years I have been training and changed clubs to be able to hit longer. There has been a lot of testing, a lot of trial and error… I have focused on speed and a strong mentality to realise my potential,” he said.
Lee, who narrowly missed forcing a play-off, remained upbeat. “I didn’t really have many mistakes except for that last tee shot on 18… I think I made a good run today to catch up to Higa and yeah, no regrets.”
Vincent, the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, finished strongly with back-to-back birdies. “To come within one just shows you how small the margins are. It is an awesome week. I played great. Just have to build from this and keep going.”
The Asian Tour now moves to Chinese-Taipei for the Yeangder TPC at Linkou International Golf & Country Club, starting Thursday. Defending champion Suteepat Prateeptienchai will return in form, having won the Mandiri Indonesia Open two weeks ago.
Scores after round 4 of The 41st Shinhan Donghae Open being played at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea – a par-72, 7,470-yard layout course (am – denotes amateur):
270 – Kazuki Higa (JPN) 70-67-65-68.
271 – Richard T. Lee (CAN) 68-71-65-67, Scott Vincent (ZIM) 71-67-65-68.
272 – Danthai Boonma (THA) 67-71-66-68, Taichi Kho (HKG) 69-69-66-68.
273 – Seonghyeon Kim (KOR) 70-70-69-64.
274 – Ryo Katsumata (JPN) 72-67-68-67.
275 – Hideto Tanihara (JPN) 70-68-69-68, Travis Smyth (AUS) 71-68-67-69, Taiki Yoshida (JPN) 68-68-68-71.
276 – Mikiya Akutsu (JPN) 73-68-67-68.
277 – Minkyu Kim (KOR) 68-71-72-66, Nick Voke (NZL) 72-70-69-66, Sadom Kaewkanjana (THA) 73-70-67-67, Austen Truslow (USA) 72-69-72-64, Bjorn Hellgren (SWE) 71-64-73-69, Sanghee Lee (KOR) 70-66-70-71.
278 – Hyunwoo Ryu (KOR) 71-70-71-66, Riki Kawamoto (JPN) 73-70-67-68, Jinho Choi (KOR) 69-70-71-68, Hyungjoon Lee (KOR) 68-73-68-69, Shugo Imahira (JPN) 72-71-70-65, Ryutaro Nagano (JPN) 69-67-72-70, Taehoon Ok (KOR) 71-65-72-70, Yongjun Bae (KOR) 71-67-69-71, Tomoharu Otsuki (JPN) 68-71-68-71, Kyungnam Kang (KOR) 70-70-67-71, Shunya Takeyasu (JPN) 71-69-67-71, Minhyuk Song (KOR) 70-68-68-72.
279 – Tatsunori Shogenji (JPN) 74-69-70-66, Daihan Lee (KOR) 72-68-68-71, Younghan Song (KOR) 68-69-70-72, Sarit Suwannarut (THA) 71-67-66-75.
280 – Junghwan Lee (KOR) 71-68-72-69, Yusaku Hosono (JPN) 70-70-72-68, Charlie Lindh (SWE) 71-71-67-71.
281 – Koshiro Maeda (JPN) 70-69-72-70, Ryosuke Kinoshita (JPN) 69-71-71-70, Baekjun Kim (KOR) 75-66-71-69, Kyongjun Moon (KOR) 68-71-70-72, Guntaek Koh (KOR) 71-71-71-68.
282 – Jeunghun Wang (KOR) 68-73-71-70, Yonggyu Park (KOR) 73-69-70-70, Poom Saksansin (THA) 72-71-69-70, Suteepat Prateeptienchai (THA) 69-72-68-73, Dongmin Kim (KOR) 71-71-72-68, Steve Lewton (ENG) 74-69-71-68.
283 – Seunghyuk Kim (KOR) 71-71-69-72, Wooyoung Cho (KOR) 74-69-69-71, Sangmoon Bae (KOR) 72-71-70-70, Miguel Tabuena (PHI) 71-72-70-70, Ian Snyman (RSA) 71-71-72-69, Yeongsu Kim (KOR) 73-70-71-69.
284 – Aguri Iwasaki (JPN) 72-70-72-70, Doyeob Mun (KOR) 69-71-74-70, Sampson Zheng (CHN) 72-70-72-70.
285 – Taehoon Kim (KOR) 76-66-71-72, Yetaek Lim (KOR) 70-71-67-77, Yuta Sugiura (JPN) 72-67-67-79.
286 – Gyumin Lee (KOR) 70-72-69-75, Jeongwoo Ham (KOR) 71-72-72-71.
287 – Taehee Lee (KOR) 71-71-73-72, Yusuke Sakamoto (JPN) 75-68-74-70.
289 – Atiruj Winaicharoenchai (THA) 70-73-74-72.
290 – Galam Jeon (KOR) 72-70-72-76, Sanghyun Park (KOR) 69-74-71-76, Mingyu Cho (KOR) 69-74-72-75, M.J. Maguire (USA) 74-69-74-73.
291 – Dongkyu Jang (KOR) 74-69-74-74, Seonghun Kwon (KOR) 69-74-77-71.
293 – Taichi Nabetani (JPN) 73-69-75-76.
295 – Nitithorn Thippong (THA) 73-68-77-77.
