As Minjee Lee completed a second major championship triumph with a four-stroke win at the US Women’s Open at Pine Needles, Smyth began the final day at Slaley Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort in England eyeing history of his own.

One-under through eight holes, Smyth dropped a shot at nine as Zimbabwean Scott Vincent made his move with birdies at seven and 11.

The pair continued to trade birdies into the back nine and it took a special tee shot to 10 feet at the par-3 17th to draw level with Vincent heading to the 18th tee.

It looked as if the New South Welshman held the advantage after finding the fairway on the last, while Vincent erred slightly left into the rough.

But the twists and turns continued as Smyth pushed his approach into a greenside bunker.

Vincent duly pounded on a pitching wedge to find the front of the green and put the pressure on Smyth, who was unable to get up and down from the sand, signing for a final round of three-under 68.

The playoff victor over Aussie Anthony Quayle on the Japan Golf Tour a week earlier, Vincent still had plenty of work left after coming up short with a long-range birdie putt.

But he showed a steely resolve to hole out for a five-under-par 66 and secure the $US360,000 first prize, becoming the first Zimbabwean to win on the Asian Tour.

Despite the bogey on 18, Smyth was philosophical about the defeat and losing out on his first Asian Tour title.

“Awesome week. Coming into the week I just really wanted to play solid,” said Smyth, whose runner-up finish is his best result on the Asian Tour.

“I did not have any expectations. If you could have said at the start of the week I was going to finish second and had a chance to win, I would have taken it.

“It was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and I can’t wait to be in the position again.”

Showing no lasting scars from his own defeat to Vincent seven days ago, Quayle moved to eighth on the Japan Golf Tour moneylist with a fourth-place finish at the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup.

He began the final round with a birdie but was unable to get another putt to drop as he hit the next 10 greens in regulation.

He picked up a shot at 14 and then chipped in for birdie at 15 as he finished three back of Kazutaka Higa with a final round of two-under 69.

Cameron Smith also began the final round of the Memorial Tournament on the PGA TOUR with high hopes yet a disastrous front nine removed the world No.3 from contention.

Five shots back in a share of second when he teed off at Muirfield Village on Sunday, Smith had three bogeys and two double-bogeys in an outward nine of six-over 42, an eagle at the par-5 15th salvaging something as he finished tied for 13th.

It was a tough final day for the Aussie contingent in Ohio with Adam Scott shooting 80 and Lucas Herbert (76) and Jason Day (75) both losing ground, Cam Davis the only Aussie to move forward with a closing two-under 70.

Results

Asian Tour
International Series England
Slaley Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort, England
Winner Scott Vincent     69-68-69-66—272           $US360,000
2            Travis Smyth      69-70-66-68—273           $220,000
T9          Wade Ormsby   72-70-70-68—280           $34,600
T9          Kevin Yuan         74-68-70-68—280           $34,600
T20        Todd Sinnott      70-69-73-70—282           $22,050
T20        Hayden Hopewell (a)      72-72-68-70—282           ——
T44        Scott Hend         70-72-71-74—287           $11,340
59          Dimitrios Papadatos       71-73-76-71—291           $7,200
T65        Cory Crawford  72-73-77-73—295           $5,900
MC        Scott Strange     72-74—146
MC        Denzel Ieremia  70-76—146
MC        Tim Stewart       70-76—146
MC        Blake Windred  73-73—146
MC        Sam Brazel         73-73—146
MC        Ben Campbell    72-74—146
MC        Jack Thompson 74-73—147
MC        Andrew Dodt     71-76—147
MC        Andrew Martin 72-75—147
MC        David Gleeson   76-71—147
MC        Ben Eccles          72-76—148
MC        Josh Younger     74-74—148
MC        Will Heffernan  75-75—150
MC        Jake Higginbottom          76-75—151
MC        Daniel Fox          79-74—153
MC        Michael Campbell           77-77—154
MC        Louis Dobbelaar              78-79—157

US Women’s Open
Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, North Carolina
Winner Minjee Lee         67-66-67-71—271           $US1.8m
T28        Hannah Green   70-71-72-76—289           $67,899
T63        Grace Kim           73-72-75-77—297           $20,498
MC        Sarah Kemp       76-70—146
MC        Gabriela Ruffels 74-75—149

PGA TOUR
The Memorial Tournament
Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio
Winner Billy Horschel    70-68-65-72—275           $US2.16m
T13        Cameron Smith 67-69-72-77—285           $221,400
31          Jason Day           71-74-68-75—288           $78,600
T48        Lucas Herbert    70-76-70-76—292           $32,040
T53        Cam Davis          71-75-78-70—294           $27,994
T67        Adam Scott        70-76-73-80—299           $25,200
MC        Danny Lee          73-74—147
MC        Marc Leishman 74-75—149
MC        Matt Jones         75-74—149
MC        Min Woo Lee     77-72—149
MC        Curtis Luck         78-73—151
MC        Jediah Morgan  76-81—157

DP World Tour
Porsche European Open
Green Eagle Golf Courses, Hamburg, Germany
Winner Kalle Samooja   72-72-74-64—282           €297,500
T25        Jason Scrivener 70-73-73-74—290           €17,412.50
MC        Maverick Antcliff             73-77—150
MC        Zach Murray      73-80—153

Japan Golf Tour
BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup
Shishido Hills Country Club (West Cse), Ibaraki
Winner Kazutaka Higa    69-71-65-67—272           ¥30m
4            Anthony Quayle              70-66-70-69—275           ¥7.2m
T9          Brad Kennedy    69-70-70-70—279           ¥4.08m
T21        Brendan Jones  76-67-70-68—281           ¥1.65m
T58        Andrew Evans   72-71-74-74—291           ¥350,000
MC        Dylan Perry        70-75—145
MC        Michael Hendry 74-73—147
MC        Adam Bland       76-72—148
MC        Matthew Griffin              77-75—152
MC        David Bransdon 78-84—162

Korn Ferry Tour
REX Hospital Open
The CC at Wakefield Plantation, Raleigh, North Carolina
Winner Davis Thompson             64-66-68-69—267           $US135,000
T47        Harrison Endycott           72-67-72-68—279           $3,300
T47        Ryan Ruffels      68-66-71-74—279           $3,300
T52        Aaron Baddeley 68-68-69-75—280           $3,158
MC        Cameron Percy  70-70—140
MC        Nick Voke           69-71—140
MC        Rhein Gibson     72-70—142

Challenge Tour
D+D REAL Czech Challenge
Golf & Spa Kunětická Hora, Dříteč, Czech Republic
Winner Nicolai Kristensen           66-71-63-66—266           €41,600
Won in sudden death playoff
T41        Deyen Lawson   71-69-71-67—278           €1,430
MC        Jarryd Felton      71-71—142

PGA TOUR Canada
Royal Beach Victoria Open
Uplands GC, Victoria, British Columbia
MC        Will Barnett       69-72—141
MC        Cameron John   75-72—147
WD        Danny List          55         

Ladies European Tour
Ladies Italian Open
Golf Club Margara, Fubine, Italy
Winner Morgane Metraux          67-70-69—206  €30,000
MC        Kristalle Blum    74-77—151

Champions Tour
Principal Charity Classic
Wakonda Club, Des Moines, Iowa
Winner Jerry Kelly           65-66-67—198  $US277,500
Won on first hole of sudden death playoff
T3          Steven Alker      67-64-69—200  $122,100
T16        Stuart Appleby  66-70-70—206  $30,525
T28        Rod Pampling    67-69-72—208  $14,034
65          Stephen Leaney 75-69-72—216  $2,405
T69        John Senden      73-74-71—218  $1,684
73          David McKenzie 73-75-72—220  $1,295