Golf: Wife’s advice helps South Africa’s Ockie Strydom win Singapore Classic

SINGAPORE – Unhappy with his swing, South African golfer Ockie Strydom was contemplating whether he should head home after the Ras Al Khaimah Championship in early February or take part in the weekend’s Singapore Classic.

The 38-year-old decided to make the trip to the Republic after his wife, who has been a staunch supporter, advised him to do so, saying “Maybe this week is yours”.

She turned out to be right as Strydom picked up his second DP World Tour win in as many months with a course-record nine-under 63 at the Laguna National Golf Resort Club on Sunday to claim the title by a stroke.

He said: “I don’t know if there are any emotions at the moment. I was thinking after Ras Al Khaimah to go home and practise because the swing’s not there.

“I spoke to my coach, who flew my assistant coach in, we worked hard to get the swing back to where it was. I’m still speechless how it happened this week.”

Strydom had sat joint-11th and four strokes behind co-leaders Wang Jeung-hun and Alejandro del Rey going into the final round, but a flawless scorecard with nine birdies saw him sign for a 19-under 269 total to win the US$2 million (S$2.65 million) event.

The fight for the Singapore Classic title went down to the final round, with 18 other golfers within five strokes of Wang and del Rey after three rounds.

Despite a brilliant start that saw him rattle off three consecutive birdies, del Rey could not maintain his form and relinquished the lead to Finland’s Sami Valimaki, who carded six birdies on his first 10 holes.

But Valimaki bogeyed his 12th, allowing Strydom, who registered three birdies from the 13th to the 16th, to join him at the top of the leaderboard.

Strydom then took a one-stroke lead as he closed his round with a birdie after a brilliant chip from off the green left him with a tap-in.

Valimaki narrowly missed the putt that would have forced a play-off, handing the South African the title after a round of 66.

South Korean Wang and Spaniard del Rey, who both shot 71s, tied for third with German Marcel Schneider (69) on 273.

On his chip on the 18th hole, Strydom said: “It was nerve-racking. I was actually in two minds – pitching it on the green or running it up; I think just running up was the safer shot and it worked out to perfection.”

With his victory, Strydom becomes the first golfer on the DP World Tour to win multiple titles this season.

In December, he won his first DP World Tour event at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa after five runner-up finishes in the competition.

He had also finished second 14 times on the Sunshine Tour before a breakthrough victory in 2019 at the Vodacom Origins Sishen.

Strydom said: “If you get your first one on a bigger stage than what you normally play on, the confidence is gained, you’ve got that ability and everything to win, you can do it every week if you want to.

“But golf is golf, you can’t win every week.

“You’ve got to take it as it comes.”

The Singapore Classic is the first DP World Tour event here since 2014 and is set to return for the next two years.

Singapore’s sole representative Ryan Ang posted a two-over 74 on Sunday to finish in joint-67th with an even-par 288.