Sunday May 23, 2010, 09:44 AM

A fired-up Bae Sang-Moon won the SK Telecom Open Sunday by three strokes after firing a closing round five-under 67 as a nervous Kim Dae-Hyun, seeking a wire-to-wire win, struggled in the fierce winds.

Bae, sealing his second OneAsia title, finished with a 22-under total of 266, three shots clear of Kim, who ended with a 73 at the Sky 72 Golf Club in Seoul after coming into the final round leading by three.

Korean legend K.J. Choi was one behind Kim after matching Bae's best-of-the-day 67 with Japan Tour star Kim Kyung-Tae fourth on 13-under, one ahead of Michael Hendry of New Zealand.

Bae, who became OneAsia's first Korean champion at last year's Korea Open, led for the first time at the eighth and held on to record his seventh strokeplay title since turning pro in 2004.

"I feel great. My putting was perfect this week. It was an intense day and I had a lot of fist-pumps, probably 10," said Bae, who has topped the Korean Tour Order of Merit for the past two years.

"Dae-Hyun is very nice and he played well this week. I feel lucky."

Bae, who also won the title in 2007 at a different venue, bogeyed hole two, but birdied the sixth to get back to within three strokes of the big-hitting Kim, leading since the first round.

However, on the par-five seventh, Kim hit a double-bogey after losing his ball following a wayward tee-shot. Pouncing on the chance, Bae sank a 15-footer to draw level, then took the outright lead on eight after Kim missed a short par putt.

Kim sank a huge birdie putt on 16 and it looked likely he would pull back to within one stroke as Bae faced a 20-footer just to save par but he sank the crucial putt to stay two ahead with two to play.

"The putt on 16 was my most important putt of the day. I was really scared then," Bae admitted.

Kim, bogey-free for the first two rounds, dropped a shot at the par-five 18th to complete an erratic round featuring a double-bogey, four bogeys, three birdies and an eagle.

The 22-year-old, ranked the Korean Tour's longest hitter for the past two seasons, admitted to suffering from nerves for the first time in his career.

"I'm still a little nervous. All day I felt nervous. I've never felt like this. I always lose to Sang-Moon," said Kim.

Choi, who won the title in 2003, 2005 and 2008, played with Bae and Kim for the last two rounds, but the seven-time PGA Tour winner could not add to his title haul.

"The fact both Sang-Moon and Dae-Hyun played well in these conditions shows you just what special talents they are," said Choi.

"I tried my best, played well and I have no excuses. They outplayed me and I take my hat off to them."

© 2010 AFP/sid