Lee Tae-hee 18th "Top 10 is a pity"... Rookie Valimaki Wins in Overtime

Oman Open Final Day 3 Under Par, Stone 2nd, Kiymer Tied 10th, Wang Jeonghun Tied 43rd

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] It is the strong performance of Lee Tae-hee (36, photo).

On the 2nd (Korean time) at Al Mouj Golf in Muscat, Oman (par 72, 7,365 yards), Lee finished the final day of the European Tour Oman Open (total prize money $1.75 million) with a 3-under-par round, tying for 18th place (7-under-par 281) along with six others including Li Haotong (China), Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium), and Gavin Green (Malaysia). The 21-year-old rookie Sami Valimaki (Finland) defeated Brandon Stone (South Africa) in a playoff to claim his first career victory (13-under-par 275).

Starting from a tie for 27th place, 7 strokes behind, Lee Tae-hee played flawlessly with no bogeys and three birdies. He reduced two strokes in the front nine with birdies on the 3rd and 7th holes (both par 5s), and added another birdie on the 14th hole (par 4) in the back nine. His long drives averaged 307.5 yards with a fairway hit rate of 78.5%, which stood out. Above all, his 'needle-like iron shots' had an outstanding accuracy of 94.4%. Although he fell short by one stroke to enter the 'top 10,' this is his best performance of the season.

Lee Tae-hee debuted on the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour in 2006 and won the NEPS Heritage in wire-to-wire fashion after 10 years. He has three career wins, including the 2018 Genesis Championship and last year's MaeKyung Open. He is playing on the European stage this year as the 3rd place on last year's Asian (APGA) Tour money ranking. Last week, he participated in the World Golf Championships (WGC) Mexico Championship but finished 72nd.

Valimaki struggled to reduce strokes over 15 holes but dramatically joined the playoff with 'stepping stone birdies' on the 16th and 18th holes, and secured the 'winning par' on the third playoff hole resumed at the 18th hole (par 4). His 8-under-par daily best on the third day was the driving force behind his victory. After tying for 7th place at the ISPS Handa Vic Open on the 9th of last month, he reached the top in his sixth European Tour event, receiving a winner's prize of 265,121 euros (about 354 million won).

Valimaki exclaimed, "An unbelievable thing happened," and said, "The birdie on the last 18th hole was amazing." Adrien Sadie (France) finished 3rd (12-under-par 276), and Guido Migliozzi (Italy) tied for 4th (11-under-par 277). The 2018 champion, Joost Luiten (Netherlands), struggled with 3-over-par and dropped to a tie for 10th place (8-under-par 280). Martin Kaymer (Germany) tied for 10th, and Wang Jeong-hoon (25) remained tied for 43rd place (3-under-par 285).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.