Eagles are always sweet but they have an extra level of satisfaction when they come on the 72nd hole.

Steaming after dropping shots at the 15th and 17th holes, big-hitting Aussie Won Joon Lee closed out the SMBC Singapore Open in style with an eagle three at the 542-yard par-5 18th hole.

That late boost moved Lee up to a tie for 18th for the week, level with Newcastle’s Jake Higginbottom for the best of the Aussies in the first event of the 2019 Asian Tour schedule.

The lengthy Sentosa Golf Club layout made birdies hard to come by for the most part, Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond producing two superb rounds of 6-under 65 over the weekend to win by two shots from Japan’s Yoshinori Fujimoto and Englishman Paul Casey.

Co-sanctioning with the Japan Golf Tour opened the way for Lee to take his place in the field in Singapore and he made the most of it, rounds of 70-69-71-69 earning him a cheque for $US11,091.

Three consecutive rounds of 1-under 70 put Higginbottom in position for a mid-table finish on Sunday but like Lee he also made a late move, birdies at the 202-yard par-3 14th and 412-yard par-4 16th resulting in a top-20 finish.

Rounds of 68-69 to start the week put Travis Smyth in position for a high finish on the leaderboard heading into the weekend but three bogeys on the front-9 on Sunday – and an unlucky break – saw the Sydneysider finish one shot behind Higginbottom and Lee in a tie for 24th.

Playing alongside 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia, Smyth was faced with playing a wicked hook over water to get back on the fairway; the result a snapped shaft a third of the way up his “beloved 7-iron”.

Had to hit the craziest shot today over water and hook back to the fairway and had no other option but to sacrifice my beloved 7iron. Such a fun week at @SingOpenGolf on the @asiantourgolf unreal experience playing sunday with masters champ @TheSergioGarcia @GolfAust @PingTour pic.twitter.com/iM5YiX5Lxe

— Travis Smyth (@travsmythg) January 20, 2019

Queensland’s Andrew Dodt made a successful start to his return to the Asian Tour, a second round of 66 the highlight as he finished tied for 34th with Zach Murray tied for 38th in his Asian Tour debut.

With the defence of his New Zealand Open title looming there were positive signs for Daniel Nisbet who opened with a 3-under 68 in Singapore but went backwards over the weekend to be tied for 59th.