Five years after bursting onto the scene with five wins on the Big Easy Tour, South African Ian Snyman finally broke through on the global scene with a resounding two-shot win in the $500,000 Taiwan Glass Taifong Open – his maiden win on the Asian Tour in 83 career starts.

The popular, soft-spoken 29-year-old made only three bogeys through the week to reach 15-under total after Sunday’s round of three-under par 69. That was enough to deny Mexico’s Santiago De la Fuente (67) and Hong Kong’s Matthew Cheung (68), two players also searching for their first win on the tour.

Chinese Taipei’s Wei-lun Chang (67) was the best-placed among local stars, tied fourth at 12-under, where he was joined by overnight joint leader, Filipino Lloyd Jefferson Go (72) and American Chase Koepka (71).

Thailand’s Suradit Yongcharoenchai (67) and Danthai Boonma (68) were tied seventh at 11-under, while American John Catlin improved to get into the top-10 with a 66, the best round of the day.

“This is crazy. Two months ago, I was in the shower, and I was thinking, ‘Will I ever win again?’ You work hard and you run out of ideas about what to do and what to change. And here I am today, and we have managed to do it,” said a relieved Snyman, who climbed to number three in the Asian Tour Order of Merit with the $90,000 winning cheque.

“And it was just solid. I felt like there was very little amount of luck involved out there for me. This week, I managed to swing good, and the putting was good. I was just in a good mindset.

“Obviously, I was hoping not to wait for five years for my first win here, but to be honest with you, I haven’t had a lot of chances on the Asian Tour. I’ve had good weeks, but not weeks where I felt like I was in control. There were always some poor shots. But this week was just solid, solid, solid. I’m glad I won feeling good, because sometimes you feel good about your game and you still don’t win.”

There was a moment late into the round when things looked dicey for the Belville resident. Having made only two bogeys in the 68 holes, Snyman hit his tee shot way short on the long par-three 15th hole, and then compounded the error with a poor bunker shot that left him with a long putt for par. He left the first putt nearly 20 feet short and looked set for a debilitating double bogey, before hitting a perfectly read putt for a ‘crucial’ bogey.

Jbe’ Kruger finished in a share of ninth at 10-under-par after he closed with a four-under-par 68, while Justin Harding was in a share of 31st on five-under after his closing one-under-par 71.