AIDRIC Chan shot an even par 71 and settled for a tie for 25th place in the $2 million Singapore Open on Sunday at the Sentosa Golf Course.
Justin Quiban, the other Filipino among five who made the cut, fired a two-under-par 69 and tied for 52nd place.
South Korea’s Jeongwoo Ham fired a three-under-par 68 in the final round to win the championship, his first international victory.
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Ham birdied the final hole to firmly turn back the challenge of Australia’s Cameron John who chased Ham ferociously from the start but eventually fell short after settling for a 5-under-par 66.
Ham posted a four-day total of 268, 16 under par for the tournament, to win by two strokes.
Saso in 20th spot; Korda leads by 5
Yuka Saso did not play bad in Saturday’s third round of the Chevron Championship, the LPGA’s first of five majors this season. But she did not also play good enough to improve her position at the Mission Hills golf course in California.
Saso, who had been struggling with her game, shot an uneventful even par 72 and was tied for 20th place going into Sunday’s final round.
Her total of 213, three-under for the tournament, is 13 shots behind tournament leader Nelly Korda who shot a 70 that gave her a five-stroke lead over Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit.
Saso had three birdies and three bogeys during the round and most likely, her target is just to make the Top 10 after missing three of seven cuts although the first three events where she played had limited field and no cuts.
Still, this tournament will be a sign of a new beginning for the 24-year-old Saso, who was born in San Ildefonso, Bulacan and had been struggling the past two seasons.
Though playing for Japan now, she gave the Philippines its first major win in the LPGA by capturing the US Open in 2021, and then shocked the league by winning the same tournament again in 2024 while representing Japan.
Meanwhile, Korda’s 200 total tied the 54-hole Chevron Championship scoring record and a victory would earn her the No. 1 ranking again which is currently held by Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul, who missed the cut here.
Chasing her is Tavatanakit, who shot a 69 to come within five shots of the lead. Also with a chance is Ruoning Yin of China, a former No. 1 in the world, who shot 66 and was six shots behind along with Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France, who had a 67.
Fitzpatricks seize lead; Hoey, partner tied for 23rd
Rico Hoey and his partner David Lipsky shot ta hird-round nine-under-par 63 but it hardly made a dent in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans Saturday.
Hoey, the only Filipino competing in the PGA Tour, and Lipsky, were tied for 23rd as the Tour’s only team competition saw many tandems go extremely low on moving day.
Hoey and Lipsky had a three-day total of 197, 19 under par for the tournament, but far away from the top which is now occupied by the brothers Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick.
The Fitzpatricks seized the lead with a mind-boggling, record-setting 15 under 57 for the day, and 30-under 186 through 54 holes.
The final round will be alternate-shot format which was also played in the second round during which the brothers shot 65.
Matt Fitzpatrick had been the anchor of the team, coming here as perhaps the hottest player on Tour with two wins, including at RBC last week where he beat world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in a playoff.
He had a chip-in for birdie on the first hole and a 33 1/2-foot putt for eagle on the par-5 seventh, and then a 210-yard approach on No. 12 that settled 4 feet from the hole.
His brother, Alex, was no slouch, either. He drove the green on the par-4 eighth for a two-putt birdie, got another shot when he chipped-in on the 16th and reached the par-5 18th in two for the team’s last birdie.
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