Jesper Svensson won his first DP World Tour title with a playoff victory over Kiradech Aphibarnrat at the Porsche Singapore Classic.
The Swede matched the course record with a closing 63 at Laguna National Golf Resort Club to get to 17 under but extra holes were required as Aphibarnrat eagled the last in a 64.
Both men made a birdie on the first trip up the last and then exchanged a pair of pars before Aphibarnrat went over the back and made a bogey, leaving Svensson two putts for a par and victory.
Svensson may have turned professional nearly five years ago, winning on the Nordic Golf League in 2020, but his big breakthrough came last year with his victory at the B-NL Challenge Trophy on the European Challenge Tour.
He also achieved three second-places as he finished fifth on the Road to Mallorca and continued to catch the eye, finishing second at the Investec South African Open Championship this season in just his sixth DP World Tour start.
Another runner-up finish came at the Bahrain Championship presented by Bapco Energies but he has now gone one better to win the opening event of the DP World Tour’s Asian Swing.
“It’s been a lot of good golf so it was nice to finally come out on top,” he said. “It’s very hard to win so it’s really nice.
“It’s been a long journey. To win on my first season out here, I couldn’t have dreamed of it. It’s always been a dream to be a winner on the DP World Tour and to achieve it feels amazing.
“Combined with Challenge Tour last year and the beginning of this season I’ve had five second-place spots in the last year. I really wanted to come out on top here.
“There was a couple of times today I told Lucky, my caddie … on 14 we were thinking about laying up we both said ‘no, we’re not finishing second again’ and it was the best shot of the week.”
Svensson began the day five shots off the lead but got off to a blistering start, making birdies on the 1st and 2nd and adding an eagle on the par-five 3rd.
He put an approach to eight feet at the 6th and chipped in at the 8th and while he then went bogey-bogey, birdies at the 12th and 13th handed him a one-shot lead.
A stunning second at the next left him with eight feet for birdie as he took a three-shot lead but he bogeyed the next to leave the door ajar,
Aphibarnrat had birdied the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th but his chances looked to be fading as he bogeyed the 12th.
He took advantage of the par-five 14th, left himself six feet at the next and then holed a long putt at the 16th to share top spot.
Svensson then hit a brilliant tee-shot into the 17th to edge ahead and a two-putt birdie at the par-five last saw him set the target at 17 under.
But Aphibarnrat was not done and he put his second to 15 feet at the 18th, holing for eagle to set up the playoff.
England’s Sam Bairstow carded a fourth consecutive 68 to finish at 16 under, one shot clear of countryman Andy Sullivan and two ahead of Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.
England’s Paul Casey was then at 13 under, with overnight leader David Micheluzzi, Spaniard Alejandro del Rey, Wales’ Rhys Enoch and Indian Shubhankar Sharma one further back.
Oliver Bekker shot 69 on Sunday to finish as the highest-placed South African on nine under (T21), followed by Casey Jarvis (seven under), Ockie Strydom (five under) and Zander Lombard (four under).
– Edited report from DP World website
Photo: Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images
