Richard T. Lee of Canada. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.
Richard T. Lee finally ended his long and frustrating seven-year wait for a third victory on the Asian Tour when he recorded a fine four-shot wire-to-wire win at the BNI Indonesian Masters.
After dozens of opportunities to win again following his success at the 2017 Shinhan Donghae Open he was relieved to prevail here at Royale Jakarta Golf Club after firing a closing two-under-par 70 for a four-round total of 23-under.
Chinese-Taipei’s Chang Wei-lun and Phachara Khongwatmai from Thailand secured second place, after both carded 64s.
Zimbabwean Kieran Vincent finished fourth, a shot further back, following a 67.
Lee was six in front at the start of the day and in cruise control after lying seven ahead at the turn. A one-and-a-half-hour weather delay, which began when he was on hole 10 failed to unsettle him, before an unexpected double-bogey on the 16th, where he took two to get out of a greenside bunker and missed a six-foot bogey putt, led momentarily to some uncertainty.
It meant his lead was cut to four over Chang, who was in the clubhouse, but he steadied the ship with a brave five-foot putt for par on the next hole followed by a par on the last. “It was a very clean scorecard today,” said Lee.
“It’s been a while,” said an elated Lee, who turned 33 last Tuesday.
“The last one was 2017 and it was at one of the courses that I like to play on. This is one of the courses that I really like to play as well. I had a good finish here last year and had a good chance to win it. I think I know the course pretty well, and I feel like I can defend my trophy next year.
“I just switched putters, I think, three weeks ago and it’s really working. I mean, it’s built my confidence up a lot, and I think if I just maintain that putting, I think I’ll play pretty well in the next few events.”
Phachara Khongwatmai of Thailand. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.
The victory continued a brilliant run of form as he tied for second in last week’s International Series Thailand, finished joint ninth in the Black Mountain Championship, and came home in equal 10th at the Yeangder TPC.
He was also third in the GS Caltex Maekyung Open in May and has eight top-15 finishes in 11 starts this season.
He added: “I did feel pressure. I haven’t been in the last group for a while and playing with two-time US Masters Bubba Watson also added to it. When I doubled 16 I told myself to pull things together and finish well.”
It is Lee’s first victory on The International Series, as this week’s event is the seventh of 10 stops on the Series – the multi-million-dollar tournaments that earns the Rankings winner a place on the ensuing season’s LIV Golf League.
Lee is now very much in contention to achieve that after moving to second place on both The International Series Rankings and the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
American John Catlin, who closed with a 69 here and tied for sixth, leads both rankings.
For Lee it is all a lifetime away for a player who played in the 2007 US Open as a 16-year-old, shot an opening round 79, was forced to withdraw due to a wrist injury, and turned professional straight after that week. It wasn’t until 2013 that he surfaced on the Asian Tour, finishing second at Qualifying School, before winning for the first time at the following year’s Solaire Open in the Philippines.
He becomes the fourth player to win from start to finish this season. Catlin was the first at the Saudi Open presented by PIF, before Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai did so at the Yeangder TPC and his countryman Rattanon Wannasrichan followed suit at the SJM Macao Open, later in the year.
For Lee’s Malaysian caddie Eddy the victory meant a double celebration as his brother Agus was on the bag for Chinese-Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po when he claimed last weekend’s International Series Thailand.
Chang and Phachara both enjoyed far away their best performances of the season. For Chang it is particularly important as he was 97th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit list.
“I did better than I expected,” said Chang, who moved up to 27th on the list.
“My goal was to finish inside top-10, top-five would be a bonus but now I should be inside top-three! Wasn’t even thinking of catching Richard as I know he has a good game and is leading by so much. Very happy with the way I played. To be honest, the pressure of keeping my card coming into this week was quite big as I don’t have many events left to play. But I told myself to stay focused and keep working hard. I’m glad it paid off. Seeing Lee Chieh-po win last week was a huge motivation as well.”
Said Phachara: “You know, starting on 11 under today and then I just went to play, made a lot of birdies, and made a lot of long putts. Now my golf is coming back to basics.”
The Asian Tour heads to the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open the week after next, where Suteepat will attempt to defend his title. The US$400,000 event tees off at Taifong Golf Club on November 17.
Four more events remain on the Asian Tour this season, and three on The International Series. The PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers is the final event of the year.
