Lee’s final round of five-under-par 66 was enough to see him lift his second Asian Tour title at the expense of Malaysian Gavin Green, who was left to settle for second place after he had started the day with the lead. 

Lee’s career had appeared to be in freefall with his Asian Tour card seemingly lost after he suffered a dislocated shoulder and muscle spasm and was left without a win for three years.

But his resolve to win again saw him return to Korea early to practice, playing on the Bear’s Best Cheongna Golf Club at least six times before the tournament got underway.

Lee’s efforts were rewarded when he posted rounds of 68, 71, 68 and 66 to lift the Shinhan Donghae Open trophy with a winning total of 11-under-par 273.

Lee said: “I’m going to remember this win for a very long time, especially after coming off injuries and working on my game from scratch again. So this win definitely means a lot. I started to feel right in my game after Fiji. I came back to Korea and played this course at least six times with Wang Jeung-hun. I’m lucky to have a good player to practice with.

“I practiced really hard and I won this tournament. When I started the round today, I wanted to shoot six-under but I got the job done with five-under, which was great.”

Green, meanwhile, remained optimistic about his future despite having to wait for his maiden breakthrough on the Asian Tour.

The Malaysian had several chances to at least force a play-off with Lee coming down the stretch but missed several putts.

Zimbabwean Scott Vincent, who finished tied-second last year, enjoyed another good outing when he signed off with a 68 to share third place with Song Young-han and Seo Hyung-seok from Korea.