Ockie Strydom shines in Singapore Classic

The South African's first DP World Tour success came in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and he put that experience to good use in a final round which included nine birdies and no dropped shots.

"It's a mindset that's changing at the moment. When you've been in that situation before and you know you can do it again," he told europeantour.com.

His 63 was the lowest round of the week and saw him reach -19, a shot ahead of Sami Valimaki, having started the final round four adrift of Jeunghun Wang and Alejandro del Rey who both finished on -15, alongside Marcel Schneider.

Del Rey was the first to move, starting with three birdies before his challenge was derailed by a double bogey at the sixth. Wang's round never really clicked but six birdies in his first 10 holes saw Valimaki with a lead of three only for the Finn to bogey 12 just as Strydom collected another birdie one hole ahead.

The pair continued to exchange blows but Strydom held his nerve on 18 to leave a chip stone dead to finish with a birdie, meaning that Valimaki needed to match that to force a play-off but he could only sign for a par.

Reflecting on that shot, Strydom said: "It’s a funny one, I said to Jaris my caddie it’s either going to go up in the air and land in the fringe, but if you hit a little bit behind it, it’s wet.

"I took the safe shot, took a wedge, laid it up and it came out absolutely phenomenally. I didn’t even think it was going to come out that good. It came out and ended up where it was.

"I was thinking about not being here this week. Hitting it so badly. My coach flew in and my wife said to me, 'listen, maybe this is your week'. And look what happened, it's my week."

He added: "I don’t know if there are any emotions at the moment. I was thinking after Ras Al Khaimah to go home and practice 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.

"The chip on 18 was phenomenal. It was one that is either perfect and coming back or it’s in the pond. I played it exactly how I wanted to. Just glad it came out to about half a foot and I knocked it in."

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