Published July 17, 2008 on October 13, 2018

Lee Snatches Win to End Title Drought at PGM CCM Championship

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American Han Lee ended a five-year title drought after signing for a seven-under-par 65 to seal his maiden Asian Development Tour (ADT) victory at the weather-shortened PGM CCM Championship on Saturday.

The 41-year-old Lee overturned a two-shot deficit to claim his maiden ADT victory by two shots on a 13-under-par 203 total over Malaysia’s Wilson Choo, who closed with a 69 to take second place at the RM225,000 (approximately US$58,000) event.

Argentina’s Miguel Carballo posted a 66 to take third place on a 206 total while Korea’s Hyuk-Chul Shin (68) took fourth place on 208 at the Kota Seriemas Golf and Country Club.

Officials were forced to shorten the PGM CCM Championship to 54-holes on Friday, due to several weather delays that resulted in more than 12 hours of play lost. Lee was amongst the 56 players who returned on Saturday morning to complete their third and final round.

Lee played on the Asian Tour in 2007 and 2008 but has been plying his trade on the Japan Golf Tour since then. He claimed his first victory on the Japan circuit in 2012 at the Mynavi ABC Championship and another in Japan in 2013, but has not had a win since then.

With his win, Lee took home six Official World Golf Ranking points and winner’s prize purse of US$9,494 which catapulted him to third place on the ADT Order of Merit.

“I told my caddy to keep an eye on the leaderboard and the guys in front and I knew it would be a close fight. It feels so good to be winning again. It has been a long time since my last win in Japan and everything is starting to come together again. I was striking it well and dropping a lot of putts this week.

“Playing in Japan, you get in a bubble and forget how good players are getting outside of Japan. Here I am playing with guys that are hungry to win every single week and that makes me want to do so much better,” added Lee.

Local hope Choo was disappointed to have missed out on his opportunity to secure a second ADT title this week, after coming so close and missing a three-foot putt for par on the very last hole that would have forced a playoff.

“All I can say is I gave it my best. Han (Lee) just played solid golf today and all I could do was to try and keep as close as possible. Still, I did really well this week and I know another win is just around the corner,” added Choo.

The leading seven 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.

Leading final round scores:

203 – Han LEE (USA) 68 70 65

205 – Wilson CHOO (MAS) 64 72 69

206 – Miguel CARBALLO (ARG) 73 67 66

208 – Hyuk-Chul SHIN (KOR) 72 68 68

209 – Donlaphatchai NIYOMCHON (THA) 71 69 69

210 – Mathiam KEYSER (RSA) 69 72 69