Jesper Svensson (-17) has won the Porsche Singapore Classic after signing off on an explosive 63-stroke card on the final day, equalling the course record, and defeating Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat (-17) on the third playoff hole, who had himself signed a 64 to be able to play it face to face against the Swede.
This is the first victory for Svensson on the DP World Tour, having just turned 28. Therefore, he is not a child prodigy, but rather an extraordinary worker who has been taking the right steps, burning stages and almost always moving forward since he turned professional in the summer of 2019, after studying at university in the United States.
He is a powerful player, hitting very hard from the tee, but today he is much more than just that, he is a very consistent player, prepared for whatever comes. Not surprisingly, after winning a Challenge tournament last year, he had accumulated up to five second places in the last nine months, three on the Challenge Tour and two more on the DP World Tour, and this season he was already arriving in Singapore in eleventh position in the Race To Dubai (he will now move up to third). His triumph, to understand us, has not been a more or less surprising blow, but rather ripe fruit that sooner or later had to fall from the tree.
Today he was not even a favourite in the starting grid of the fourth round, as he was five strokes behind the leaders, but he started with two birdies and an eagle and immediately got fully involved in the fight. He was able to sign two eagles in this final round, with special mention for the one at hole 14, a very long par 5 where it was not so easy to reach the green in two and leave a good option. Before, at 13, another par 5, he had also putted for eagle, and he would do the same at 18, the last long hole of the course…
He also finished, playing his whiskers with a great shot at 17, the intimidating par 3 with island green at the Laguna National Golf Resort Club, straight for the flag, where he would get a birdie that really made the difference (there have only been nine birdies on this hole in the final round). Then, in the play off against Aphibarnrat, he was almost always going to take the initiative and take advantage of a chain of final errors from the Thai to win with a par.
Svensson turned pro in the Nordic League, where he managed to win a tournament in 2020. He then spent three seasons in the Challenge, where he finally won a tournament last year and moved up to the first division, where he has also already claimed victory in very few attempts, knocking down the doors one by one, but also shortening the deadlines each time… We’ll see if the next step is not the PGA Tour in 2025. He certainly aims for such a goal. For now, he has also taken a giant step to play his first Major, the PGA next May.
The best Spaniard was Alejandro del Rey (-12), who finished in a notable seventh position after handing in a 68-stroke card. The Madrid native, in fact, was carrying out a very similar operation to Svensson’s, as he had fully entered the fight for victory with a five-under par in the first ten holes. At that moment he had moved to within a single stroke of the lead, but two immediate bogeys on holes 11 and 12 returned him to a more tempered position and then he was not able to get the machinery going again. A good week for him, in any case. As it was also for Adri Arnaus (-9), who was not overflowing this season with great results and who has played four rounds in a row under par after a long time without achieving it (the last time, before this week in Singapore, in Ras Al Khaimah 2023, more than thirteen months ago). Iván Cantero (-4) closed with a good round of 69 strokes, while Ángel Hidalgo (+3) paid dearly for a quintuple bogey at 16.
