Richard T. Lee finally ended his long and frustrating seven-year wait for a third victory on the Asian Tour today when he recorded a fine four-shot wire-to-wire win at the BNI Indonesian Masters.

After dozens of opportunities to win again following his success at the 2017 Shinhan Donghae Open he was relieved to prevail here at Royale Jakarta Golf Club after firing a closing two-under-par 70 for a four-round total of 23-under.

Chinese-Taipei’s Chang Wei-lun and Phachara Khongwatmai from Thailand secured second place, after both carding 64s.

Zimbabwean Kieran Vincent finished fourth, a shot further back, following a 67.

Richard T. Lee. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

Lee was six in front at the start of day and in cruise control after lying seven ahead at the turn. A one-and-a-half-hour weather delay, which began when he was on hole 10 failed to unsettle him, before an unexpected double-bogey on the 16^th, where he took two to get out of a greenside bunker and missed a six-foot bogey putt, led momentarily to some uncertainty. It meant his lead was cut to four over Chang, who was in the clubhouse, but he steadied the ship with a brave five-foot putt for par on the next hole followed by a par on the last.

“It’s been a while,” said an elated Lee, who turned 33 last Tuesday.

“The last one was 2017 and it was at one of the courses that I like to play on. This is one of the courses that I really like to play as well. I had a good finish here last year and had a good chance to win it. I think I know the course pretty well, and I feel like I can defend my trophy next year.

“I just switched putters, I think, three weeks ago and it’s really working. I mean, it’s built my confidence up a lot, and I think if I just maintain that putting, I think I’ll play pretty well in the next few events.”

The victory continued a brilliant run of form as he tied for second in last week’s International Series Thailand, finished joint ninth in the Black Mountain Championship, and came home in equal 10^th at the Yeangder TPC.

Richard T. Lee. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

He was also third in the GS Caltex Maekyung Open in May and has eight top 15 finishes in 11 starts this season.

He added: “I did feel pressure. I haven’t been in last group for a while and playing with two-time US Masters Bubba Watson also added to it. When I doubled 16 I told myself to pull things together and finish well.”

It is Lee’s first victory on The International Series, as this week’s event is the seventh of 10^th stops on the Series – the multi-million-dollar tournaments that earns The International Series Rankings winner a place on the ensuing season’s LIV Golf League.

Lee is now very much in contention to achieve that after moving to second place on both The International Series Rankings and the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

American John Catlin, who closed with a 69 here and tied for sixth, leads both rankings.

For Lee it is all a lifetime away for a player who played in the 2007 US Open as a 16-year-old, shot an opening round 79, was forced to withdraw due to a wrist injury, and turned professional straight after that week. It wasn’t until 2013 that he surfaced on the Asian Tour, finishing second at Qualifying School, before winning for the first time at the following year’s Solaire Open in the Philippines.

Chang Wei-lun. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

He becomes the fourth player to win from start to finish this season. Catlin was the first at the Saudi Open presented by PIF, before Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai did so at the Yeangder TPC and his countryman Rattanon Wannasrichan at the SJM Macao Open, later in the year.

For Lee’s Malaysian caddie Eddy the victory meant a double celebration as his brother Agus was on the bag for Chinese-Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po when he claimed last weekend’s International Series Thailand.

Chang and Phachara both enjoyed far away their best performances of the season. For Chang it is particularly important as he was 97^th on the Asian Tour Merit list.

“I did better than I expected,” said Chang, who moved up into 27^th on the Merit list.

“My goal was to finish inside top-10, top-five would be a bonus but now I should be inside top-three! Wasn’t even thinking of catching Richard as I know he has a good game and is leading by so much. Very happy with the way I played. To be honest, the pressure of keeping my card coming into this week was quite big as I don’t have many events left to play. But I told myself to stay focused and keep working hard. I’m glad it paid off. Seeing Lee Chieh-po win last week was a huge motivation as well.”

Said Phachara: “You know, starting on 11 under today and then I just went to play, made a lot of birdies, and made a lot of long putts. Now my golf is coming back to basics.”

The Asian Tour heads to the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open the week after next, where Suteepat will attempt to defend his title. The US$400,000 event tees off at Taifong Golf Club on November 17.

Four more events remain on the Asian Tour this season, and three on The International Series. The PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers is the final event of the year.

Jared Du Toit was planning the next phase of his golfing career last summer, casting a wide net by entering qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour, the DP World Tour, and anything else he could think of. 

But a friend from his days playing at Arizona State University nudged him toward the Asian Tour.

Fast forward to now and Du Toit, from Kimberley, B.C., sits seventh on the Asian Tour’s order of merit after earning a top-10 finish in his first-ever tournament on the men’s golf circuit.

“I was talking to him a little bit in the summer and he just said ‘you’re crazy if you’re not giving Asia a try. The competition is solid, the events are great, and the money is pretty good,'” said Du Toit. “That sparked some interest so I gave it a try, not thinking much of it. 

“But (the DP World Tour and Korn Ferry Tour) didn’t work out so I went to Asia, got status that way. Now we’re here and enjoying it, enjoying it a lot so far.”

The 28-year-old Du Toit tied for seventh at 17 under on Sunday at the IRS Prima Malaysian Open at The Mines Resort & Golf Club, six shots back of winner David Puig of Spain. 

Du Toit was in a position to miss the cut halfway through his second round but rallied to shoot a 64 and see the weekend. He then fired a 62 in the third round to rocket up the leaderboard before a 71 settled him into seventh.

“Going from basically the cutline to three or four inside the number and in the thick of it a little bit I felt like I was on the house money bit and just had a great round three, which got me right into it,” said Du Toit. “Unfortunately, I didn’t play my best on the last round, but all things considered going from the cutline to contention to finishing top 10 was a solid start to the year and I’m excited to get going over here.”

His next target is to earn his way into some of the co-sanctioned events like next week’s New Zealand Open or one of men’s golf’s majors, like the British Open.

“I was pretty close last week being in contention in Malaysia. There was three spots for the Open,” said Du Toit. “It might be a little tougher to do that, don’t think they just give away spots so I definitely lost a bit of an opportunity last week, but I’d love to do that.

“I just still try and play my best, make as many cuts as I can.”

Du Toit has his next chance to do just that this week at the International Series Oman at Al Mouj Golf in Muscat, Oman. Toronto’s Richard T. Lee is also in the tournament.

PGA TOUR — Five Canadians are in the field at this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta Vallarta in Vallarta, Mexico. Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., is the top-ranked member of the Canadian contingent, entering the week at 62nd in the FedEx Cup standings. Mackenzie Hughes (72) of Dundas, Ont., and Ben Silverman (99) of Thornhill, Ont., are also in the field, as are unranked players Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C.

OUTSPOKEN HUGHES — Hughes, who is on the PGA Tour’s player advisory council for another year, remains outspoken about the upstart LIV Golf circuit. He spoke to CBS while on the course of last week’s Genesis Invitational about the ongoing rivalry.

“Now we’re in a place where I think fans are just generally a little bit fed up with it, to be honest,” said Hughes. “Those are the people that drive our sport so I’d love to appeal to the masses a lot more.

“Certainly, the way we’re going right now, to me, isn’t quite it.”

DP WORLD TOUR — Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., is the lone Canadian in this week’s Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi. He finished second at the event in 2022.

LPGA TOUR — Brooke Henderson of Smiths Fall, Ont., is the lone Canadian in the field at Honda LPGA Thailand at Siam Country Club’s Old Course in Chonburi. She sits sixth in the Race to CME Globe standings after placing third at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions on Jan. 18 and tying for 16th at the LPGA Drive On Championship.

MEN’S NCAA — Calgary’s Hunter Thomson won his season opener with eight birdies in the final round of the Palmas del Mar Collegiate tournament in Humacao, Puerto Rico. He won the event by two strokes on Feb. 13, helping the University of Michigan to a fourth-place finish.