Singapore Open brings curtain down on Asian Tour season

England’s Paul Casey had planned to compete in the Singapore Open last year, eager to improve on his impressive joint second-place finish in 2019.

He is a big fan of Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong Course but the pandemic meant the event, one of the region’s iconic national opens, could not be played.

It was a missed opportunity for the region, but much to the delight of his many fans, the Ryder Cup star and winner of 21 titles around the world is back for this year’s long-awaited tournament, which tees-off on Thursday, and the Englishman is very excited about it.

“It’s been difficult for pretty much everyone on the planet this last two years,” said the 44-year-old.

His last event was in Dubai at the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in November and although he says he “probably lacks a little sharpness”, he says his game is in good shape.

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond beat him by two shots three years ago and he is determined to make amends for that this week.

He’s been put in the same group as Thailand’s 14-year-old wonderkid Ratchanon Chantananuwat for the first two rounds, which will make for a fascinating pairing.

Dubai-based Indian pair Shiv Kapur and Jeev Milkha Singh are in the 132-strong field, with threeballs going out in a two-tee start from 7.30am to 1.40pm.