By Anthony Kang, three-time Asian Tour winner and golf commentator

Singapore, January 16: The 53rd SMBC Singapore Open kicks off a brand new season on the Asian Tour and the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) this week.  The award winning Sentosa Golf Club will host the national open of the city state for the 12th consecutive time.  Here is a look at some of the top players in the field.

Sergio Garcia

After a decisive victory last year, winning by five strokes, Garcia had a turbulent span in the middle of the season where he missed seven cuts in an 18-week stretch.  With a captain’s pick from Thomas Bjorn for the Ryder Cup, the 2017 Masters champion has reignited the tail end of 2018 where, in his final five events, he compiled a cumulative score of -60 and finished no worse than tied ninth including a win at Valderrama.

A confident Garcia is dangerous for the rest of the field as evidenced by his finish in 2018 at the beastly Serapong course.  He displayed unmatched exactitude in ball striking especially in his final 45 holes, where he putted for birdie 43 times and his tee ball found 31 fairways of 35.  The defending champion’s 72 hole mark of -14 is the lowest score, when all four rounds are contested solely on the Serapong course, at the Singapore Open.

Paul Casey

Consistent Casey has progressed to weekend play in 54 of his past 58 starts worldwide in a two and a half year period.  The average placing, in those 54 made cut events, is a highly respectable 16th.  The Englishman boasts an intelligent iron game which ranked 13th or better in strokes gained approach-the-green on the PGA Tour for the past five years.  Coupled with the fact that he led proximity to the hole from 200 yards and longer for the 2018 PGA Tour season, averaging 42 feet 4 inches, the lengthy Serapong course fits the game of the 2018 Valspar Championship winner.

The average length of the 11 par fours at the Serapong course is 445 yards.  Add two par threes exceeding 200 yards and three par fives reachable in two shots, a player may face up to ten shots into the greens of over 200 yards.

Credited with two Asian Tour victories, the 41-year-old finished tied tenth in his lone previous start at the 2012 Singapore Open with scores of 68-73-68-69 for a six under 278.

Davis Love III

Time attenuates herculean athletes. Love III, a perennial power hitter, is no exception. In 2007, at the age of 43, the 21 time PGA Tour winner’s average driver clubhead speed registered an admirable 118.3 mph, ranked 23rd on PGA Tour that year and five-and-one-half mph over the Tour average.  Last year, at the age of 54, the speed declined to 110.9 mph, ranked 162nd while three-and-one-half mph slower than the average.  A 54 year old swinging the driver nearly at 111 mph is enviable but the 1994 PGA Tour distance leader regularly faces players that are younger than half his age and can hit 30 yards longer.

The 1997 PGA Championship winner announced his primary focus this week is attaining one of the four berths to the Open Championship where his last start came in 2012 at Royal Lytham, ending a streak of 26 consecutive starts at the oldest major championship.

Love III soars into Singapore after a seventh place finish last week at the Sony Open in Hawaii for his first top ten finish in 17 months.

Matthew Fitzpatrick

The 2013 US Amateur champion first entered the top 50 of the official world golf rankings three years and two months ago at the age of 21 and has remained inside the golden mark of professional golf for all but two weeks, a remarkable achievement considering he does not possess a power game.  The five-time European Tour winner averaged nine-and-one-half yards shorter than the field average in Europe throughout 2018, however, his meticulous game mends well at the 7398 -ard Serapong course.

Length off the tee is a benefit but not a necessity at this imposing course, which requires accurate tee shots, precision play into the greens from 175-225 yards, and impeccable speed control on the gigantic greens, all of which are Fitzpatrick’s strengths.

His two wins in 2016, Nordea Masters and DP World Championship, were both held on golf courses in excess of 7,500 yards.

Shugo Imahira

The 2018 JGTO’s money list winner led the par four scoring on the Japan Tour for the second consecutive season.  Just Three players played the par fours under par for the entire 2018 season yet the five feet five inch Japanese bludgeoned the par fours to a score of -35 and a whopping 30 strokes better than the next best par-four performer.

The formidable collection of par fours at the Serapong course saw the field at last year’s Singapore Open average six and a half over par for the tournament.  Historically, when all four rounds are completed solely at the Serapong course, past winners have played the par fours nearly two under par for the week.

The 26-year-old arrives with a T33 at the Sony Open in Honolulu and makes his second start at the Singapore Open aiming to improve his T33 finish last year.

Ho Sung Choi

The contortionist disguised as a professional golfer, Choi enjoyed his finest year in 2018 by winning the Casio World Open seven weeks ago for his third career win en route to 10th  on the JGTO’s money list, eclipsing his previous best of 34th in 2013.  The Korean topped the putting category in Japan by averaging 28.1 putts per round in 2018 but due to his inconsistent ball striking, had a scoring average of 71.16, although a personal best.

Fans and players alike will root for the 45-year-old to sparkle in Singapore but he needs to be sharp from the tee and into the greens to take advantage of his skillful putting.  The exacting Serapong golf course has not been kind to Ho Sung where he had missed the cut in four previous starts averaging 73.33 with a best score of even par 71.

Chapchai Nirat

In the 11 previous stagings of the Singapore Open at Sentosa Golf Club, Nirat is the only player to have led or co-led at the end of each of the first three rounds.  Chapchai, nicknamed ‘king kong,’ climbed to the top of the leader board after the first round in 2005 and 2012, co-led after round two in 2018, and held the 54 hole lead in 2008.

Although the Thai’s best finish upon 72 holes is tied seventh in 2008 and 2016, his affinity for this venue on Sentosa island cannot be overlooked as the four-time Asian Tour champion has produced eight top 25 finishes.