Byeong Hun An defeated fellow South Korean Tom Kim in a play-off to secure his second DP World Tour title at the Genesis Championship.
Related: Home boys Byeong Hun An, Joohyung kim top of pile in Korea
Birdies were dropping in from the start by the contenders as six players held the lead in some capacity at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Sunday.
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The carousel at the top of leaderboard was in full flow until Kim jumped one shot clear heading down the last when An lipped out for bogey at the penultimate hole.
Both landed their approach to eight feet for birdie putts, with An applying the pressure by draining his effort to move back alongside Kim at 17 under.
Kim needed to sink his to claim the one-shot victory, but he lipped out and the two home favourites were forced into a play-off.
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Both played risky second shots when replaying the par-five last, but Kim was left in a precarious position which resulted in him shooting into the main stand with his third and carding a bogey.
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An had two putts for the title on home soil and only needed one to seal his first victory on the DP World Tour since lifting the 2015 BMW PGA Championship, nine years and 156 days ago.
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Ricardo Gouveia, who began the week in 154th place on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex, recorded his first top 20 finish of the campaign with a brilliant third at 16 under to earn his playing rights for next season.
Antoine Rozner was one shot further back, Italian Guido Migliozzi carded the lowest final round of the day with a flawless 65 to sit at 14 under, while Francesco Laporta, first round leader Ivan Cantero and South African Casey Jarvis were two more adrift.
Cantero was another who started the tournament below the cut-off line at 117th, but kept his head above water by taking the first round lead in Asia. The Spaniard maintained his fantastic start by carding four consecutive under par rounds as he come home in a tie for sixth and climb into the top 100 in the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Marco Penge endured a roller coaster of emotions throughout the week, which started when he needed to birdie the last on Friday to make the cutline. He duly obliged to boost his chances – he began the week in the ominous position of 115th – before a flawless 67 in the final round saw him finish in a tie for 22nd place and secure his card.
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Søren Kjeldsen closed out his final full DP World Tour season with a round 71 to sit at seven under par for the tournament as the Dane begins the transition to playing ‘seniors’ golf on both the Legends Tour and PGA TOUR Champions.
More than a quarter of a century on from his debut on the DP World Tour in 1998, he maintained his playing rights for a remarkable 26 consecutive seasons and won four times.
It was only earlier this season that he became just the fourth player to make 700 or more appearances, emulating David Howell, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Sam Torrance. On Sunday, he finished what was his 712th start on the DP World Tour – only Howell (725) and Angel Jiménez (723) have played more.
Player quotes
Byeong Hun An: It’s great, I’ve had a great season obviously, it’s been too long (to win) on the main Tour. All I tried to do is show some great golf in front of the home fans, it’s been a while since I’ve played in front of them.
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It feels amazing, it’s a bit of a shame that Tom had a bit of mess there, but it’s been a great tournament for me, I’ve really enjoyed it.
There has been a lot of fans out there supporting me and Tom, and I feel like we had a great battle today. I just got a little bit lucky to be a winner out there today I think.
I was two shots back, I had a great driver off the deck on the front nine so I thought ‘this is the one to do it’.
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The lay-up wasn’t that easy and heading close to the flag, so driver was exactly how I planned it and it’s a shame I missed that (eagle) putt, but I think that was the shot I needed at that moment and that made me get birdie on the following hole. I felt it was the right shot, a little aggressive, but I knew I could pull it off.
It’s a sweet ending for this year, it’s been a great year. I’ve put a lot of work in it. It will be the same next week when I get back, another off-season that I have to work hard for to be better next year.
