Sujjan seals Taman Dayu Championship victory

Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia: Sujjan Singh of India completed a sensational wire-to-wire victory with a closing even-par 72 and dedicated his win at the Taman Dayu Championship to his new born daughter on Saturday.

Singh’s 10-shot advantage going into the final round never looked threatened as he cruised to a first victory outside of India with a 22-under-par 266 total at the majestic Taman Dayu Golf and Resort.

Australians Michael Moore and Anthony Choat battled to a 66 and 68 respectively to share second place with Filipino veteran Antonio Lascuna (68) on 272, six shots from the champion Singh, at the inaugural US$75,000 Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.

Rory Hie finished as the best placed Indonesian in tied fifth place with Myanmar’s Zaw Moe on a 275 total at the Taman Dayu Championship, which is promoted by Asian Golf Group (AGG).

“I have to dedicate my win to my new born daughter Serena and also to my sister. I just welcomed a baby girl in May and you start to feel that golf is not everything. That kind of eases the pressure and it worked for me this week,” said Singh, who won US$13,125.

It was a relatively quiet round for Singh compared to his previous days’ scores of 64, 63 and 67 as he returned with two birdies and one double bogey on the par four 10th hole when his approach shot to the green got plugged in the greenside bunker.

“I had to concentrate on my own game which was much harder because I was struggling with my ball striking. I missed a lot of fairways and this course will get tougher when you do that. I was still happy with the way I hung in there. I think my short game was fantastic,” said the 31-year-old, Singh, who played on a sponsor’s invitation.

“I’ve been working really hard for a long time. It is good to know my game is heading in a positive direction. I hope this is the first of many. I didn’t make it easy on myself and I know it wasn’t going to be easy winning outside of India. It is a little bit extra special when the win is abroad,” he added.

Playing on the same flight as Singh, Choat, who has been playing on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) for the last four years, admitted that it was a tough task of chasing Singh’s lead.

“I wanted to make a lot of birdies but I got off to a slow start. When we started making birdies on the back nine, we could see that the pressure was getting to him (Singh). He still had a huge lead so it was in his advantage,” said Choat.

“It was good fun. He played really well and defended his lead. I was just trying to concentrate on my own game but it was always going to be a big task to run down the lead,” added the Australian.

Filipino Lascuna, who equalled the course record of 63 in the third round, was delighted with his finish where he birdied the last hole in front of a cheering crowd.

“It was good fun and I’m not disappointed with how I finish. Singh had a huge lead and it was tough to chase him down. All in all, I enjoyed this tournament. The course was fantastic and the tournament was well run,” said Lascuna, an Asian Tour regular.
Leading final round scores
266 - Sujjan SINGH (IND) 64-63-67-72
272 - Michael MOORE           (AUS) 69-68-69-66, Antonio LASCUNA (PHI) 72-69-63-68, Anthony CHOAT (AUS) 67-74-63-68
275 - Rory HIE (INA) 66-70-71-68, Zaw MOE (MYN) 69-69-68-69
276 - KIM Gi-whan (KOR) 71-70-70-65
277 - Tim STEWART (AUS) 69-69-72-67
278 - Pijit PETCHKASEM (THA) 70-70-68-70, Anura Rohana (SKL) 72-65-69-72
279 - Mars PUCAY (PHI) 72-70-68-69, Jay BAYRON (PHI) 70-71-65-73
280 - CHOO Tze Huang (SIN) 70-71-72-67
281 - Grant JACKSON (ENG) 73-70-71-67, Rattanon WANNASRICHAN (THA) 72-69-70-70
282 - Pawin INGKHAPRADIT (THA) 71-72-72-67, Will YANAGISAWA (USA) 71-71-69-71
283 - James LAM (PHI) 69-73-72-69, Charles HONG (PHI) 71           -71-71-70