SINGAPORE RECAP: GOOD WEEK FOR NA BUT IRON HEADS FAIL TO FIRE
SINGAPORE – Iron Heads GC Captain Kevin Na was pleased with his own performance after a solid week at the hot and humid Sentosa Golf Club that resulted in his second top-10 finish of the season, but expressed disappointment that the team could not carry on the momentum from Adelaide.
Na shot rounds of 66, 70 and 67 to tie for 7th place in LIV Golf Singapore at 10-under. It fell just birdie short of his best finish of the season, a tied 6th place in Hong Kong.
Na expected more from the team after they were leading LIV Golf Adelaide early in the final round, and with his teammates Danny Lee and Jinichiro Kozuma both notching top-10 results Down Under. And Asia specialist Scott Vincent returning to the scene of his best round in 2023 – a 9-under 62 in Saturday’s second round.
However, both Lee (72-76-69) and Kozuma (73-72-76) struggled to match their Adelaide heroics, and Vincent (70-66-76) slipped on an indifferent final day. Vincent was tied 37th at 1-under, Lee tied 49th at 4-over and Kozuma ranked last at 8-over. The Japanese, who secured his card through the Promotions event last year in Abu Dhabi, surprisingly made just two birdies, both of which came on Saturday.
“I love Singapore. I think it’s a great city. Except for the weather, everything’s great!” quipped Na, who is not fond of playing in hot and humid places.
“I was very pleased how I played all week. Felt like I could have made a few putts that didn’t drop, but can’t complain otherwise.
“And Sunday was particularly pleasing as I was bogey-free. I struck it well, and I did everything well on a golf course that wasn’t playing easy. I’ll take it.”
Na had an idea as to what would get Iron Heads to the podium, but also knows it's tough given the number of heavyweight teams in the League.
“We need to, A, get better, and B, we need to play well the same week. That’s the only key to getting on the podium,” explained the 40-year-old.
“Danny’s always up and down and that’s okay to have a guy like that up and down, and expected from a guy who recently came out of an injury. Scott’s usually our sturdy guy, but he hasn’t played up to his potential this season. As for Jini, he’s a good player.
“Obviously, both Danny and Jini had a great showing last week, and it could just be the heat, or the fact that Adelaide took out a lot from them, but this was again a week when we just didn’t have it together.
“I am sure Jini worked hard for this particular stretch, but I definitely know Danny worked extremely hard before Adelaide. We both live in the same city (Las Vegas) and whenever I would call him during the day, he would be at the golf course, or in the driving range.
“We all have more than a month to think and prepare before we touch down at Houston. Hopefully, we would have figured something out by then.”
Na improved to 20th place in Individual Standings with 20.5 points, but Iron Heads remain at the bottom of the table with 6.33 points from their tied 6th place in Hong Kong. The final-round drop snatched all chances of points from Vincent, who remains 51st with 1.57 points. Lee and Kozuma are tied 38th, thanks to their 9th-place finish in Adelaide.
STAT REVIEW
Field ranking in parentheses
Fairways Hit
Na – 29 (T8)
Vincent – 19 (T49)
Lee – 26 (T20)
Kozuma – 19 (T49)
Greens in Regulation
Na – 44 (T2)
Vincent – 34 (T47)
Lee – 38 (T29)
Kozuma – 37 (T32)
Total Putts
Na – 88 (T29)
Vincent – 84 (T9)
Lee – 94 (48)
Kozuma – 98 (52)
Total Birdies
Na – 13 T21
Vincent – 7 (T49)
Lee – 12 (T26)
Kozuma – 2 (54)
Driving Distance Avg.
Na – 287.3 (48)
Vincent – 304.5 (21)
Lee – 289.8 (47)
Kozuma – 300.1 (30)