England's Ian Poulter held his nerve to claim a one-stroke victory in the Barclays Singapore Open. It was his first tournament victory since the 2007 Dunlop Phoenix Open.
Poulter led the copmetition from start to finish, but the week was something of a roller-coaster ride for the 33-year-old. After two rounds he held a clear lead following two fantastic rounds of 66 and 64. But, over the weekend, Poulter struggled to find his form and he had to battle hard to return consecutive 72s.
"I played so well in spells and it was just so annoying to let easy holes slip," he said. "I was mis-hitting some shots which made it a little bit interesting on a string of holes yesterday and coming out today I made some mistakes as well on the front and back nines. That made it a little bit too close for comfort."
For a time on Sunday it looked as though Graeme McDowell would provide the greatest threat to Poulter. But, the Northern Irishman faded away over the back nine and it turned out to be China's Liang Wen-chong who pushed the Englishman hardest. Liang played a solid closing round of 70 and he was left to rue a series of missed opportunities down the stretch.
"I tried my best but lady luck was eluding me. It was quite a pity on the 18th hole that I couldn't find a birdie," Liang said. "I just hit a bad third shot. I had a pitching wedge in hand, had 126 yards to the pin, but there are no regrets, golf is like that."
Two-time Singapore Open champion Adam Scott showed a welcome return to form this week and, his final round 68 pushed him up the leaderboard to finish the week in a tie for third with fellow Australian Scott Hend. "It's good to see something come out from the hard work as I've been grinding it pretty hard. I hung in there all weekend," he said.
With the victory Poulter climbed to 10th on the Race to Dubai standings as well as sending a message to 2010 Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie.
Barclays Singapore Open Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore Oct 29 - Nov 1, purse €3,378,378, par 71 1 Ian Poulter (Eng) 66 64 72 72 274 €554,127 2 Liang Wen-chong (Chn) 69 68 68 70 275 €369,416 T3 Scott Hend (Aus) 72 66 69 69 276 €187,185 T3 Adam Scott (Aus) 72 71 65 68 276 €187,185 T5 Anders Hansen (Den) 68 71 68 70 277 €119,027 T5 Graeme McDowell (NIR) 71 65 67 74 277 €119,027 T5 Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 72 68 68 69 277 €119,027 8 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 69 67 71 71 278 €83,119 T9 Marcus Both (Aus) 72 71 67 69 279 €62,571 T9 Andrew Dodt (Aus) 69 68 70 72 279 €62,571 T9 Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 68 68 71 72 279 €62,571 T9 Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 70 70 67 72 279 €62,571 T9 Thomas Levet (Fra) 68 68 73 70 279 €62,571
Player scores listed in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only
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