Although it had been an integral part of the Asian Tour schedule for a number of years, last season saw the Barclays Singapore Open take its place on The European Tour for the first time under a new co-sanctioning agreement which remains in place for 2010.

The only difference this year is the make-up of the tournament itself which is increased in player numbers from the traditional 156 to 204 with the event being played over two courses at Sentosa Golf Club – The Tanjong and The Serapong.

Given the new union last year, it was appropriate that the first two places were claimed by a European – champion Ian Poulter of England – and an Asian player – runner-up Liang Wen-chong of China.

With his own clothing design company, Poulter is used to doing things in style and his victory saw him become only the third player of the 2009 season – following Rory McIlroy in the Dubai Desert Classic and Phil Mickelson in the WGC-CA Championship – to triumph wire-to-wire

From the moment his opening 66 put him in pole position the Englishman became the man to beat and although the chasing pack pressed hard, his 72 for a ten under par total of 274 was good enough to win by one.