Shanghai: Bae Sang-moon held on through windy and wild conditions at Silport to post a one-stroke, wire-to-wire victory at the inaugural US$400,000 KEB Invitational.

With the field consisting of 150 top ZH and South Koreans, the 21-year-old Bae closed with a three-over 75 for a 72-hole aggregate total of one-under 287. The victory was worth US$80,000 in addition to a 15,000 RMB prize offered by Silport for posting a first round six-under 66 to establish the inaugural course record for the West and North course configuration.

As the wind picked to a heavy gust over the last nine holes of the final round, Bae, winner of the SK Telecom Open last year in Korea, finished with six bogeys versus one birdie. Suk Jong- yul closed with a four-over 76 to finish even par, one stroke off the pace. Choi Ho-sung and Kim Hyung-sung were equal third, four strokes back.

In a tournament that featured such established Korean stars as Asian Tour great Kang Wook-soon, former Korean Open champion Kim Dae-sub and ex-US college standout Ted Oh, the ZH players were in tough from the get go. With the management of Zhang Lian-wei pulling China’s golf pioneer out of the tournament at the last moment, the domestic hopes relied on the up-and-coming talent from the China Tour and top amateurs Hu Mu and Zhang Xinjun.

Finishing with a solid final round 73, Yuan Hao was the top ZH in equal seventh. The Guangdong native carded four birdies during the opening nine of his final round for an aggregate six-over 294 to sit seven strokes back of the winner. Xu Qin was the only other ZH in the top 20 in equal 18th. Amateur star Hu Mu was equal 21st, 12 strokes off the pace.

The KEB Invitational was created by the Korean and ZH golf associations as a platform to increase friendship between the two countries and to develop young golf talent. The next event will be played in Seoul, Korea, later this year.