Published July 17, 2008 on March 24, 2018

Hasegawa Secures Breakthrough at Weather-Hit OB Golf Invitational

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Overnight leader Shohei Hasegawa of Japan was declared the winner of the OB Golf Invitational when officials decided to cancel the final round due to inclement weather on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Hasegawa was delighted to clinch his maiden Asian Development Tour victory, which was also his first professional win since he joined the play-for-pay ranks in 2015.

Hasegawa emerged victorious by one shot at the US$ 70,000 event held at Gunung Geulis Golf and Country Club.

“The weather didn’t look good this morning and I thought I would still have 18 holes to play a better round today. But they decided to shorten the tournament I was just upset that I didn’t get the opportunity to play in the final group which I was looking forward to. I was going to use today to gauge how I perform under pressure since I had a big group chasing me from behind. It’s not something you experience every day and it is great practice at this level of competition,” said Hasegawa who won with his three-day total of 10-under-par 203.

The final round was scheduled to start at 7.30am, local time but was delayed till 8.30am and suspended again at 8.57am due to lighting threats before officials subsequently announced the cancelation of the final round at 11am.

“After deliberation, the organizing committee decided to cancel the final round due to heavy rain which was expected to last throughout the day. Conditions were also deemed unplayable. Considering we lost close to nine hours of playing time in total due to inclement weather all week, we had to alleviate travel concerns for our players and shorten the event,” said Asian Tour Tournament Director, Fritz Katzengruber.

Hasegawa, an Asian Tour Qualifying School graduate who resides in Hiroshima, Japan, has been riding on good form coming into this week with a tied-sixth finish in Brunei earlier this month.

Relishing the opportunity to play against an international field on the Tour’s secondary circuit, the Japanese went home with a winner’s prize purse of US$ 12,250 and is now looking forward to gaining more playing experience on the ADT.

“There wasn’t much pressure this morning because I was more excited. I have been in the final groups in local events back home but this is the biggest tournament that I have been able to get into this position. I am very impressed with the level of competition on the ADT and having played in the last two events since I got my card, I have met so many friends and watched how different players compete. I look forward to winning a tournament by playing all four days and that will be my next goal.

“It feels so good to finally win my first professional victory. I am going to tell all my friends back home and call my family after this is over. I feel good about where my game is at right now and I am proud of how I performed on this course,” said Hasegawa.

American Sydney Chung settled for second place on 204 while fellow compatriot John Catlin finished in third place, one shot back of Chung. Indonesia’s George Gandranata signed for a 206 to secure fourth place while Singapore’s Johnson Poh took outright fifth place with his 208 total.

“I had a great opportunity today to win after coming off two low rounds so I am definitely disappointed about not being able to play today. I was just one shot behind and a few guys told me the weather radar this morning wasn’t looking good, so once the rain came I wasn’t surprised about the announcement to shorten the event. But it is what it is and it’s still a great boost for my confidence, especially seeing my name on the leaderboard,” said Chung.

All ADT events are afforded Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) status. The winner of each tournament receives a minimum of six OWGR 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 premier Asian Tour for the 2019 season.

 

 

Leading Final Round scores

203 – Shohei HASEGAWA (JPN) 68 65 70

204 – Sydney CHUNG (USA) 73 65 66

205 – John CATLIN (USA) 67 69 69

206 – George GANDRANATA (INA) 70 69 67

208 – Johnson POH (SGP) 69 70 69

209 – Lee SONG (KOR) 69 74 66, Oscar ZETTERWALL (SWE) 71 69 69, Shinichi MIZUNO (JPN) 70 64 75

210 – Stephen LINDSKOG (SWE) 69 73 68, Malcolm KOKOCINSKI (SWE) 69 73 68

211 – Matt KILLEN (ENG) 72 69 70, Blake SNYDER (USA) 72 67 72