By Kent Gray
Expectation, driven silently from within and overtly so from well-meaning external sources, is the almost inescapable and often uncomfortable bedfellow of golf success achieved at a young age.

So it has proved for Phachara Khongwatmai, the young Thai who shot to global prominence when he won the All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT)’s Singha Hau Hin Open in 2013 — as a 14-year-old amateur. Khongwatmai turned professional immediately afterwards and his new army of admirers waited for the child prodigy to kick on to inevitable Asian Tour success. And waited. And waited some more.

Finally, after a further six ATGT wins (two of them in the past two months), a pair of Asian Development Tour victories and six runner-up finishes on the main circuit, the 22-year-old celebrated his Asian Tour breakthrough on Sunday, claiming the $1 million Laguna Phuket Championship following a physically and mentally taxing final round.

What happened in the immediate aftermath of Khongwatmai’s win, sealed by a shot from Korean Bio Kim and compatriots Panuphol Pittayarat and Denmit Boriboonsub (the latter aged just 17), was predictably unavoidable. After a clutch 12-foot par save to clinch victory on the 72nd hole was drained, a flood of fresh, externally-generated anticipation flowed.

Up in the commentary booth, analyst Anthony Kang likened Khongwatmai to a young David Duval, the American who had seven runner-up finishes before his PGA Tour breakthrough and eventual ascent to world No.1. Duval went on to claim 13 PGA Tour titles in total, the last of them the 2013 Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.   

Kang, himself a three-time Asian Tour champion whose biggest triumph came at the 2009 Maybank Malaysian Open co-sanctioned by the then European Tour, reckoned out loud that Khongwatmai also had a “major championship-winning game”.  Lead commentator Timothy Lowe doubled down by likening Diamond, as Khongwatmai is nick-named, to Phil Mickelson. Both the American lefty and the talented Thai, Lowe said, were players capable of magic on and around the greens – Khongwatmai’s putting was a key factor all week – but also a blowout hole every now and then.

Khongwatmai’s game, according to long-serving Asian Tour on-course reporter Dom Boulet, meanwhile, has matured in recent years, rendering those card-wrecking scores to occasional rather than regular occurrences. He needed all that newfound resolve in a four-birdie-four bogey final round of 70, an even-par circuit made difficult by winds gusting up to 30kmh, tight fairways and thick rough and greens baked in the tropical sun.

The US$180,000 Khongwatmai claimed for his winning 10-under total was a career-best payday and propelled him up to second place on the OOM – just $9903 behind Aussie Wade Orsmby – heading into January’s Singapore double-header, the finale of this COVID-disrupted season that started on Jan. 9, 2020, and won’t finish until Jan. 23, 2022.

It surpassed the €140,000 he banked for a runner-up finish at the 2017 ISPS Handa World Super 6 in Perth but it was victory with Thai legend Thongchai Jaidee in another European Tour event, the 2019 GolfSixes Cascais (a non-money ranking teams initiative), that kept outsiders believing in Khongwatmai.

Cue Boule – the “voice of Asian golf” – in Sunday’s winner’s interview. “Now, many of us believe you are a top-20 player in the world, you’ve got that ability. Do you believe it yourself?”

“I believe [in] myself but I don’t think so long [far ahead]. I just think the way I do now and play my best,” retorted Khongwatmai who jumped from 370th to 223rd in the OWGR with his victory, still some way off his career-best ranking of 148th.

Bio Kim lead after the first three rounds but struggled with his putter all weekend long.

His best was good enough on a Sunday of blustery winds and flagging fortunes for the main contenders.

Kim, who led after each of the first three rounds, started the final day with a one-stroke buffer but bogeyed four of his first five holes before finally losing a weekend-long battle with his putter on the 72nd hole when a birdie attempt that would have forced a playoff burned the cup. The Korean signed for a two-over 72 but had the consolation of T-4 and T-2 finishes in a Phuket fortnight that bolstered his bank balance by $112, 533 and bumped him inside the top-10 of the OOM. A trip to February’s Saudi International, the Asian Tour’s $5 million 2022 season-opener, is now guaranteed with Kim firmly inside the top-30 OOM bubble heading to Singapore.

Panuphol Pittayarat battled gamely but bogeyed four of his final six holes.

Pittayarat led by three strokes with six to play but bogeyed four of that closing stretch, including the last after starting the 72nd hole tied at -10 with Khongwatmai. Pittayarat’s closing 71 squandered a third Asian Tour win, or at least the shot at that milestone via a playoff.

About the only one not going backwards at the end was Boriboonsub who, fresh from winning the ATGT’s Singha Chiang Mai Open late last month with a stunning closing 64, brilliantly birdied the penultimate hole before watching as a birdie attempt on the last to force a playoff slid agonisingly by. His 68 was bettered by only two others in the top-10 and, save for Khongwatmai’s fairytale, challenged 14-year-old amateur Ratchanon Chantananuwat for the feel-good story of the week. After his -11 weekend at last week’s Blue Canyon Phuket Championship, Chantananuwat sensationally made it back-to-back cuts at Laguna Golf Phuket and finished the Asian Tour Phuket Series with scores of 69-69 in testing conditions.

Denmit Boriboonsub’s 68 was bettered by only two other players in the top-10.

Khongwatmai gained the lead on the 15th when Pittayarat bogeyed via a three-putt but returned the favour on the penultimate hole with three stabs of his own from long range. For a player who has struggled to get over the line so many times, it was almost fitting the finale was so nervy. It was certainly never going to be easy as Khongwatmai gave himself every chance of another three-putt on the last by rushing his birdie putt by the hole, only to coolly drop the 12-footer coming back before being dowsed in water by his mates.

“I feel very happy, and very excited for this win. I have been waiting for about six years. Right now, it is my time, and I feel great,” he said.

“Today was quite difficult because it was tough wind. I have never played this wind in Thailand before. Today was tough, and all about who can make the score and keep the score.”

As it turned out, a period in quarantine at Laguna Phuket Resort helped calm Diamond’s nerves on the last.

“That last putt is my last chance for 18 holes [in regulation] but if I missed I knew I had another chance in a play-off. [And] I had that putt from that place before when I was here in quarantine.”

Eight topsy-turvy years on from Hau Hin, it turns out holing a putt for the biggest win of his life wasn’t an unreasonable expectation after all.

The post After six near-misses, Thailand’s child prodigy finally claims his maiden Asian Tour win appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Like most everyone else, at Golf Digest Middle East we’re genuinely excited to see Tiger Woods back on his feet, lighting up social media again – all it took was one swing – and even planting the seeds of a top-level comeback.

About the only thing that would make his annual Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas better would be if the Big Cat was playing himself this week. With that said, the revelations about the seriousness of his Feb. 23 car accident — “I’m lucky to be alive” and “Yeah, it [amputation of his injured leg] was on the table.” — means no one is getting ahead of themselves.

There are still a plethora of PGA Tour superstars teeing it up in New Providence – McIlroy, Koepka, Thomas, Morikawa, DeChambeau etc. etc. – so by all means, enjoy the limited field show and repeated sightings of Tiger.

But if you’re not quite ready for the start of golf’s made-for-TV silly season, there’s a strong argument – and Middle East motives – to switch attention 14,000-odd km away to the $1 million Laguna Phuket Championship.

With the worrying Omicron-enforced demise of the DP World Tour’s South African swing, the second leg of the Asian Tour Phuket Series is the only main tour in full-field action this week.

After its own pandemic enforced shutdown – 20 long and frustrating months – the Asian Tour returned to action with Chan Shih-chang’s victory at the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship last week. But it’s what happened on Monday, namely the release of the 25-star players headed to February’s Saudi International – Johnson, DeChambeau, Schauffele, Mickelson, Watson etc. etc. – that has really upped the ante.

To catch you up, the Saudi International has become the Asian Tour’s $5 million, “flagship” season-opener and the 144-players in Phuket this week are all striving to make it to Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Feb. To achieve that a top-30 finish in the final Asian Tour Order of Merit is required so with just three events of this severely disrupted season to play – at Laguna Golf Phuket from tomorrow and a Singapore double-header next month– there’s a lot on the line.

There’s also the prospect of a 2022 schedule not only bolstered by the Saudi International but also 10-new premier events made possible by a $200 million investment by the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Investments.

But that is for next season. Right now, the inaugural Laguna Phuket Championship has plenty of storylines to draw your attention. Here’s eight, with the prospect of more to emerge as the Middle East discovers more about the emboldened circuit on its geographical back doorstep:

Suttijet Kooratanapisan returns to his beloved Laguna Golf Phuket.

The Asian Tour’s original Mr. 59 returns

Suttijet Kooratanapisan is one of 58 Thais in the field but the only one who can claim to be the first Asian Tour player to shoot golf’s mythical number – 59 . The now 34-year-old achieved the feat on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) at the 2017 Singha Phuket Open, notably on the same layout to be used this week, Laguna Golf Phuket. Another Thai, Naras Luangphetcharaporn, is the only other player to shoot 59 in official Asian Tour competition ‒ at the circuit’s 2019 Q-School. There was also lift, clean and place rules in play then but hey, 59 is 59 no matter how you slice and dice it.
“I remember hole No. 7 was a par-5 last time, now it’s a par-4. I loved that because when I shot 59, I made eagle there,” said Kooratanapisan who has one ADT title to his name but is still searching for main tour breakthrough. “This week is a lot harder though as the rough is very long and the fairways are very narrow. It’s not the same as last time. My goal this week is just to play under par every day. Right now my putting is so good.”

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Have we mentioned the precociously talented Thai teen Ratchanon Chantananuwat?

Why yes, yes we have – here and here in the past week – and right here again. So what’s all the fuss about? For starters, the Bangkok schoolboy became the third-youngest player in Asian Tour history to make the cut at last week’s Blue Canyon Phuket Championship. Then he stormed home with a Sunday 65 to finish his Asian Tour debut T-15. Not bad for a 14-year-old. It would be something else if he can make it back-to-back cuts but perhaps no surprise either given he finished second in the Singha Laguna Phuket Open – an All Thailand Golf Tour event – at Laguna Golf Phuket recently. Whatever happens, Chantananuwa looks set to play a big part in the Asian Tour’s suddenly bright future.

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Jordanian trailblazer Shergo Al Kurdi

Followers of MENA Tour will know how critical the regional development circuit has been in the rise and rise of Jordanian teen Shergo Al Kurdi, including an OWGR feat for Middle East and GCC golfers at the opening event of the 2020 MENA Tour season. What Middle East fans may not know is that Al Kurdi turned professional at last week’s Blue Canyon Phuket Championship. Things didn’t quite go as planned, rounds of 76-74 seeing the 18-year-old miss the cut by seven strokes. But with his pro debut out of the way there will be added resolve this week. The three other MENA Tour regulars in the field be looking for better weeks as well; at +2, Englishman David Langley (76-70) was the best performed at Blue Canyon but still three strokes shy of making the weekend. Compatriot Curtis Knipes (75-73) finished +4, a shot worse than Scot Ryan Lumsden (70-77).

Teenager @SHERGOKURDI shares his thoughts ahead of the Laguna Phuket Championship and talks about his hopes to inspire others ?

The 18-year-old ?? became the first Jordanian to tee up on the Asian Tour last week.?@LagunaGolfHKT #LPC2021 #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/jKdJFlAi68

— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) December 1, 2021

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Saudi stepping-stones

Faisal Al Salhab, H.R.H. Prince Khalid Saud Al Faisal, Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of Golf Saudi, Saud Al Sharif and Othman Almulla.

Saudi Arabia’s investment in the Asian Tour – separate deals incorporating the Saudi International and the 10 new premier events starting 2022 – will help fast-track the development of the Kingdom’s leading players. It won’t be smooth sailing as the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship highlighted with pro Othman Almulla (+4) the best performer. But the only way to learn how to cope at the highest level is to experience the highest level and amateurs Faisal Al Salhab (81-72), Saud Al Sharif  (78-85) and Abdulraham Al Mansour (81-85) will measure improvement by trying to improve on their respective +9, +19 and +22 aggregates. The Saudi trio join Ratchanon Chantananuwat among six amateurs in this week’s field.

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 Tight at the Top

OOM leader Wade Ormsby finished T-23 last week.

Wade Ormsby won the season-opening Hong Kong Open (way back in Jan. 2020) and led the Order of Merit when the Asian Tour shut-down after the Malaysian Open in March 2020. The Aussie still leads the moneylist (US$237,003 ) after a decent T-23 finish at Blue Canyon but it’s getting tight at the top. Blue Canyon champion Chan Shih-chang ($211,775) is up to second while the monster birdie putt Joohyung Kim binned on the 72nd hole Sunday earned the 19-year-old Korean a share of second place and bumped him up to third overall ($194,628).  Who will lead going into the Christmas break and January’s Singapore double-header? Don’t be surprised if it is Kim who won has kicked on from his Asian Tour breakthrough at the 2019 Panasonic Open in India to become the highest-ranked player this week at No. 130 in the OWGR.

Joohyung Kim.

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A little more Jazz

Jazz Janewattananond.

 If there was a genuine shock at last week’s season resumption it was that Jazz Janewattananond, a former MENA Tour winner and the reigning Asian Tour No.1,  missed the cut by four strokes. Count on the Thai getting his bid to become the first back-to-back OOM winner firmly back on track at Laguna. He enters the week in 7th on the moneylist with $113,000.

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Are you not entertained?

So you haven’t paid much attention to the Asian Tour until now and wonder what’s the standard like? Allow us to present Chan Shih-chang’s tee shot on the tricky par-3 14th at Blue Canyon during last Sunday’s final round as an example of the quality shot-making that marked the week.

Accuracy off the tee ?#BCPC2021 #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/DGtgD3aK2F

— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) November 28, 2021

It was a pivotal laser beam, setting up the Chinese-Taipei 35-year-old for his third Asian Tour title after a five-year title drought on the circuit. So yes, the quality is world-class. Tune in any way you can. You might just be surprised.

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Speedy Sadom Kaewkanjana

Sadom Kaewkanjana.

It seems everything Sadom Kaewkanjana does he does so quickly. Like securing his Tour card at his first attempt via Q-school before becoming the fastest graduate to win on the Asian Tour (at the 2019 Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open)… in his very first Asian Tour start. A 72nd hole bogey scuppered his chances of a second title last week but the eventually second-placed Thai is in sublime form; he’s returned sub-par scores in his last 20 competitive rounds. And he does it all at an impressively giddy pace, as in one of the fastest pro golfers we’ve witnessed on any tour type-cadence. Pull a club, pick a target and pull the trigger. We love it. And Kaewkanjana’s chances this week.

The post Eight (sometimes Middle East) reasons why Phuket, not the Bahamas, deserves your golf attention this week appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Look closely at the Asian Tour players going about their business within the palm-fringed confines of Laguna Phuket Resort this week and you might well discern a conspicuous uptick in intensity.

The smiles that permeated last week’s $1 million Blue Canyon Phuket Championship will no doubt endure, the calling card of collective and lasting relief that the circuit is back up and running after 20 workless months due to the pandemic.

But now the star-studded cast for February’s $5 million Saudi International has been unveiled, expect the range sessions and practice rounds of those prepping for the $1 million Laguna Phuket Championship starting Thursday to be tackled with even more resolve than normal.

Suddenly the chance to tee it up alongside the likes of Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Bubba Watson in the Asian Tour’s 2022 season-opener is real, not to mention the lure of the potentially life-changing prize money.

Before the circuit’s new “flagship” event near Jeddah from Feb. 3-6, there’s the not insignificant matter of three events to play to complete the hugely disrupted 2020-21 season.

The second leg of the Asian Tour Phuket Series at Laguna Golf Phuket this week and January’s Singapore double-header will be especially important for those scrambling to secure a start in Saudi courtesy of a top-30 finish in the Order Of Merit.

Still, it hasn’t stopped the likes of Joohyung Kim, the 19-year-old Korean star-in-waiting, looking ahead with relish to the Saudi International’s sanctioning switch from the DP World Tour to the Asian Tour.

Bryson DeChambeau is set for this third Saudi International appearance in four years.

“The Saudi International will give us a new opportunity to compete against the world’s best, something many Asian Tour players have never been afforded,” said Kim who moved up to third on the money list courtesy of finishing joint runner-up to Chinese Taipei’s Chan Shih-chang at Blue Canyon last week.

“Given the way events and ranking points are weighted on different tours, it was historically more challenging for players rising through the Asian Tour to find their way into the biggest events.”

Kim is convinced all the Asian Tour players need is a chance to show their capabilities at the highest level. That is now guaranteed courtesy of a 10-year agreement with Golf Saudi for sanctioning rights to the Saudi International. The annual Royal Green’s event, with its star pulling power, is the cherry on top of the icing provided by LIV Golf Investments in the form of an additional decade-long, $200 million investment in 10 new premier events to be bolted onto the Asian Tour schedule from 2022.    

“The Asian Tour’s talent pool runs deep and, as we see every week, players from a diverse cross-section of nationalities are more than capable of competing at the highest level,” said Kim.

“More big events will help to create a more prosperous Asian Tour and, without doubt, create new talent that can compete on the biggest stage, giving the sport in Asia and around the world a very welcome shot in the arm.”

The post Star Saudi Int. field ‘very welcome shot in the arm’ for competition-starved Asian Tour members appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
After a 20-month pandemic enforced hiatus and a recent $200 million cash injection, the resumption of the Asian Tour in Phuket is the only fresh storyline the rejuvenated circuit really needed this week. But how about young Ratchanon Chantananuwat for a worthy subplot.

The 14-year-old Thai amateur is set for his Asian Tour debut at the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship on Thursday and will also tee it up in next week’s Laguna Phuket Championship, the second leg of the Asian Tour’s much-anticipated Phuket Series. Given the teen’s form in the lead-up to the $1 million event, this is no thinly-veiled publicity stunt either; the kid’s clearly got game.

Chantananuwat, or “TK” as he is nicknamed, has been the find of the All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT) this year, finishing top amateur in six successive events. Even more impressively, Chantananuwat starred on the two courses that make up the Asian Tour Phuket Series; he was joint fifth in the Singha All Thailand Championship on the Canyon Course at Blue Canyon and second in the Singha Laguna Phuket Open at Laguna Golf Phuket.

Throw in the fact he finished T-16th at the Thailand Open last month and owns the ATGT record as the youngest player to make the cut at 13 years, four months and 18 days, and it’s hardly surprising that there is genuine interest in the youngster who will have his father, Tara, on his bag this week.

Meet @ratchanon_tk ?? – The youngest player in the field this week at 14 years old.?#BCPC2021 #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/M3MklT9eLG

— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) November 24, 2021

“Obviously, this is my first Asian Tour event, I am aware that the players are really good, there’s a lot of top players here, so I am just mainly focusing on myself,” said Chantananuwat who led after the third round of the Singha All Thailand Championship on the Canyon course.

“I have played well at these clubs at the recent ATGT events. It feels really good to finish as best amateur six times in a row, I am just trying to go for the big one now.”

Studying for his IGCEs at Shrewsbury International School in Bangkok, Chantananuwat isn’t letting this momentous week keep him from his school work either. He missed a double English lesson to play a practice round on Monday but made up for it with some online physics and English classes yesterday.

“Obviously it should be 50/50 for the most part but at certain times I have to focus on one thing or another depending what is more important at the time. For example, right now I have to pretty much put my full attention on these two events, therefore I am prioritising golf and practice way more than school.

“I know if I spend a bit of time revising and talking to my teachers I can catch up. Depending on my tee times this week, if early or late, I can slot in a period to study.”

It is the start of this new four-event stretch (including two events scheduled for Singapore in January) that will finish the stalled 2020-21 season that has  Chantananuwat’s “full attention” this week. While most are focused on playing their way into the top-30 in the Order of Merit come late January to secure a place in the Asian Tour’s new $5million, 2022 season-opening Saudi International in February, TK’s motivation is more refined.

“My game is ok. I just want to make sure I am dialled in because if I want to do well then the driver’s got to be on point, hitting has to be on point, I have to make the putts, put my irons close, everything has to be as good as possible.”

The Asian Tour’s 2020/21 season resumes this week at the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship #BCPC2021 #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/KHuG57W18R

— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) November 22, 2021

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