Smyth and Newcastle-based Andrew Dodt were the two Aussies best positioned prior to the start of the final round of one of the Asian Tour’s premier events with Smyth the one to make a surge up the leaderboard courtesy of a 3-under front nine of 33.

A fourth birdie at the dogleg right par-4 11th moved Smyth up to 9-under and into a tie for seventh, the lure of one of four invitations to Royal St George’s in July for the top four finishers not otherwise exempt the major motivation over the closing holes.

A dropped shot at the 487-metre par-4 12th was earned back with a birdie at the 13th but consecutive bogeys at 14 and 15 quelled Smyth’s momentum, a birdie at the 72nd hole earning him a share of 11th, three shots shy of the number required to book a berth at The Open.

Given his tie for 13th at the Hong Kong Open the week prior, Smyth is now 10th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with countryman Wade Ormsby leading the way following his Hong Kong Open triumph.

It was a disappointing final day for Dodt who lost ground to the field with a 5-over 76 to finish tied for 41st along with Victorian Matthew Griffin who signed for a Sunday 72.

American Matt Kuchar held off a fast-finishing Rose to win by three strokes with Joohyung Kim, Richard T Lee, Poom Saksansin and Ryosuke Kinoshita the players to progress via The Open Qualifying Series.

The Asian Tour now has a break for the Qualifying School tournaments and will resume at the co-sanctioned New Zealand Open in Queenstown from February 27.

Asian Tour
SMBC Singapore Open
Sentosa Golf Club (Serapong Cse)

T11         Travis Smyth      69-68-71-68—276             $US16,283
T41         Matthew Griffin               72-68-73-72—285             $5,670
T41         Andrew Dodt     69-69-71-76—285             $5,670
T65         David Micheluzzi              70-71-75-77—293             $2,750
MC         Terry Pilkadaris 72-72—144
MC         Won Joon Lee   68-76—144
MC         Jake Higginbottom          75-71—146
MC         Josh Younger     74-72—146
MC         Dylan Perry         72-75—147
MC         Michael Hendry                73-74—147
MC         David Gleeson   75-73—148
MC         Marcus Fraser   73-76—149
MC         David Bransdon                77-73—150
MC         Aaron Pike          77-75—152
WD         Daniel Nisbet     73