Two eagles in a brilliant closing eight-under-par 63 on Sunday saw Jbe’ Kruger finish fifth in his title defence in the Japan Golf Tour’s and Asian Tour’s Shinhan Donghae Open.
Kruger went bogey-free in his final round, adding four birdies to eagles on the 13th and 18th as he reached 17-under-par for the tournament. That left him just three strokes off the winning total of 20-under-par which was set by Japan’s Kazuki Higa.
Higa closed with a six-under-par 65 to edge Min-Gyu Cho of South Korea, Thailand’s Tirawat Kaewsiribandit and Canadian Yonggu Shin by one stroke. Kruger finished in a share of fifth with three other players.
He only got his scoring going on the back nine, after making just one birdie on the front nine, on the fifth. He picked up his second shot with a birdie on the 12th, and then came his first eagle on the par-five 13th. There were birdies on 15 and 17, before he rounded things off with a hole-out eagle on the par-four 18th.
