SINGAPORE — Newly crowned SMBC Singapore Open champion Song Young Han may have spent the whole of Sunday night “hating” world No 1 Jordan Spieth, but it did not stop him from requesting a selfie with the American star when they ran into each other at the Serapong clubhouse in Sentosa after their final rounds yesterday.

A smiling Spieth graciously obliged, before heartily congratulating Song on his maiden professional victory.

It was a light-hearted moment, and one that encapsulated the fierce-but-friendly rivalry both players had enjoyed with each other during the five days of competition. But while Spieth had been the headline act and favourite to win the tournament, it was ultimately the relatively-unknown Song who upset the odds to come out on top in the US$1 million (S$1.4 million) event.

With inclement weather disrupting the last round of the competition on Sunday, the two were among 12 players who were forced to return to the course yesterday morning to finish their remaining holes.

Playing his 18th and final hole, Spieth had no problem sinking the five-foot putt for a birdie — his only shot of the day — to complete a five-under 66 for the round and 11-under total of 273.

While that put the pressure on Song — on 12-under total — the world No 204 ultimately held his nerves to par his final three holes to clinch the Singapore Open trophy.

“Last night felt like one whole week; I couldn’t sleep well and kept thinking about my putt on the 16th green,” Song, who will pocket over S$250,000 in prize money, said via a translator. “I felt like I was going crazy in my room and, for last night at least, I hated Spieth.

“The weather over the course of the last few days has been tough, but I think it was a good thing for me that play was halted on Sunday. I was feeling very tired then and, if I had continued on, I might not have won the tournament. The wind conditions and direction were also much more favourable today, so I knew I just had to play to play it conservatively and try to avoid making any mistakes. I managed to do it, so this week will now always be a special one for me in my golfing career.”

Spieth bemoaned his decision-making in the second and third rounds of the competition, which ultimately left him with too big a gap to close on Song.

“I made some really poor decisions in the middle two rounds because I was just trying to do too much stuff and try to play a different style of the golf than I’m used to,” said the Texan. “There was a lot of tough breaks, and this was definitely one of the weeks where we got the bad end in terms of some bounces.

“I wasn’t positioning myself in the right places as well, which usually forced me to make tough decisions that led to me missing the greens. But, overall, I held it together pretty well and the game was really close. I fought hard in the final round, but I was just a little bit too far back to catch up to Song in the end.”

Final scores (selected)

272 Song Young Han (Kor) 70 63 69 70

273 Jordan Spieth (US) 67 70 70 66

274 Liang Wenchong (Chn) 71 67 67 69

275 Miguel Tabuena (Phi) 69 67 71 68; Shintaro Kobayashi (Jpn) 66 69 69 71

276 Wang Jeunghun (Kor) 73 67 67 69; Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 68 67 71 70

277 Lee Won Joon (Aus) 71 69 67 70; Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69 70 71 67; Brett Munson (US) 71 67 70 69