Johor Bahru, Malaysia: Singapore’s Johnson Poh broke through on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) in emphatic style, romping to a four-shot victory at the PGM Johor Championship.
The 26-year-old fired an accomplished closing seven-under-par 65 for a four-day total of 21-under-par 267 in the RM225,000 (about US$58,000) event at Palm Resort Golf and Country Club.
Second place went to Sweden’s Malcolm Kokocinski (67) with Ben Leong posting a 70 to finish as the best Malaysian in third.
Singapore’s Mardan Mamat rolled back the years with a superb 65 to claim a share of fourth alongside Australian Kieran Pratt (67), Thail Nitithorn Thippong (67) and Malaysian Arie Irawan (70).
Showing few signs of nerves, Poh, who is coached by his father, carded nine birdies against two bogeys. He finished in style with birdies at each of the final three holes.
“It feels awesome to finally win on the ADT and my lowest four-round-total in any tournament. I think the biggest thing for me this week was that I stuck to my gameplan and stayed calm on every shot,” said Poh, who won silver medals in the individual and team events in the 2009 and 2015 South East Asian Games.
Despite missing out on victory, Kokocinski took pride in his runner-up finish.
“I played really well all week … it’s just that Johnson did a little better. I hit all 18 greens today and I only missed four in total all week. I like where my game is right now so I see good things happening pretty soon,” he said.
Poh, who took home the winner’s prize cheque of US$10,237, is the third Singaporean to win on the ADT after Mardan and Quincy Quek.
Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points are offered at all ADT events. The winner earns six points while the top-six players and ties earn points on a sliding scale.
The leading five players on the ADT Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn playing rights on the Asian Tour for the 2019 season.