Asian Development Tour joy for lucky Luke
Luke Joy makes no attempt to sugar-coat the past 2½ years as a mini-tour journeyman with almost nowhere to play, zero certainly surrounding his professional future and challenges at home that conspired to put even the pandemic curveballs into context.
“It’s been brutal… brutal,” said the Abu Dhabi-based Englishman before acknowledging bride Lauren’s role as a career saviour and emotional rock despite her own personal battles. “If I didn’t have my wife, I’m lucky enough she’s a successful PT [personal trainer]…”
Joy’s answer tapered off as he internalised not only his soul mate’s lop-sided contribution to fiscal survival in the UAE during the pandemic but also the emotional rollercoaster ride the couple have been on since just before the outbreak of COVID-19.
In mid-2019 Lauren was diagnosed with stage four endometriosis, a painful inflammatory condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus is found outside the uterus. Thankfully successful surgery in London that December, just as COVID-19 was sweeping the globe, has translated into the joyful pitter patter of tiny feet. The arrival of wee Hugo, the couple’s first child, on February 1 this year means Dad has even more reason to hit the range and revive his stalled career.
It makes another resurrection, that of the MENA Tour’s 2020 Journey to Journey season, timely. Better still, the circuit’s freshly-minted strategic alliance with the Asian Tour means the Beautiful Thailand Swing starting next Tuesday will be co-sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour (ADT).
As such, the four quickfire 54-hole events in Phuket not only promise a combined US$300,000 in prizemoney and enhanced OWGR status, but more importantly a view to a bright new future on a circuit suddenly emboldened by a $300 million investment from Saudi-backed LIV Golf Investments.
As a two-time winner on tour, Joy is the most decorated of the 55 MENA Tour players set to tee it up at Laguna Golf Phuket and Blue Canyon Country Club over the next three weeks. At 17th in the current Order of Merit, he’s also well-positioned to capitalise on some, if not all, of the early sweeteners provided by what is set to become a full merger between the two development tours.
They include an invite to one of the Asian Tour’s new $1.5 million-plus International Series events for the eventual MENA Tour champion, the promise of two further ADT starts and, also for the top-10 in the now rebranded ‘2020+ Journey to Jordan’ standings, exemption to the final stage of Asian Tour Q-School for 2023.
It’s no wonder Joy, who won the MENA Tour’s Dubai Creek Open and GOLF CITIZEN Abu Dhabi Open in a breakout 2014, is a big fan of the new opportunity laden pathway.
“I mean don’t get me wrong, when we had starts for the European Tour stuff which I was very lucky enough to play my way into, the Dubai Desert Classic, the Dutch Open and Morocco and places like that, it was great,” said the 33-year-old.
“But it was like one week, you had one week to perform and you basically finished top-10 at that event or it was done. It’s like a shootout and where those guys [on the DP World Tour] are playing week-in, week-out, 13 on the stimp [metre] greens, firm, rock hard and stuff like that, that is quite a tough adjustment to get straight away.
“Whereas now, if it was in the same situation, the same Order of Merit positions, then next year you’d have an Asian Tour card so I think the progression now is far more valuable.”
That was crystalised for Joy during a stint caddieing for Saudi amateur Saud Al Sharif during the Asian Tour’s $5 million, season-opening PIF Saudi International presented by SoftBank Investment Advisors in early February.
“I also saw the limitations that the European Tour potentially has to offer someone like me at the moment with them cancelling Q-school for the last three years. Basically, I didn’t quite understand the logic of how the Ladies European Tour can have a Q-School and yet the European Tour can’t.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m visualising wins on the European Tour, or visualising wins on the Asian Tour because I’m not there yet. I need to put a plan in place to see where I can get to. Down the road, I see myself on a bigger tour but just at the moment, I’m just going to have to wait and see what avenues open up to see which side of Abu Dhabi airport I’m going take, either to Asia or Europe.”
All signs point to Asia currently and for that, Joy is grateful. Anything has to be better than the last two-plus years with his career on ice.
“Obviously we don’t really have the benefit of, for instance, getting furloughed or anything like that. You’re a performance-based, commission-based entity where when you play well, you win money and you can put food on the table. If you don’t have any opportunity to do that, it’s quite a tough one to sort of salvage.
After two years with his career on ice, Luke Joy is keen to get back in action with the Beautiful Thailand Swing. Picture by Johan Rynners / Sunshine Tour.
“I’m lucky enough to have a university degree [via Drake University in Iowa which boasts Zach Johnson among their alumni] to fall back on but some of the guys who don’t have an educational background, and they still want to stay in golf industry, I really don’t know what you could have done. I mean, I started up a granola company just to keep things ticking over in my apartment, you know just random stuff that you would never even have thought of. You had to be adaptable, think outside the box. But yeah, it’s been pretty crap.”
Joy will enter the Beautiful Thailand Swing around his current ranking of 1724th in the OWGR but has been as low as 486th. That was in early January 2018, just a couple of months removed from his best finish on the ADT, second place by a shot to Thai Poosit Supupramal at the Defence Raya Golf Championship in Pakistan.
“That was pretty much my best year to date,” Joy recalls of an actual 14-month stint from September 2016 to the ADT event in Pakistan where he finished runner-up no less than seven times in OWGR events.
“I mean, getting into the top 500 in the world playing on a mini-tour was pretty impressive because the ranking points were basically nothing.”
Given Joy’s last professional outing was his title defence of the King Hamad Trophy at Royal Bahrain last November, it’s little surprise he’s approaching the Beautiful Thailand Swing with nothing more than cautious optimism. Sleepless nights and nappy changing duties for a now three-month-old take precedence over-sharpening ones wedge game after all.
That said, Joy isn’t jetting his way to Phuket to “make up the numbers.” He’s won on the MENA, EuroPro and JAMEGA Tours and sees no reason why he can’t add a trophy engraved with the ADT to his mantelpiece.
“I’ve always tried to make sure that I’m not a donator to the prize fund, you go in there to do a job and some weeks it will go well…” said Joy before another of his patented pauses for thought.
“You know, I want to get to the elusive 10th professional victory. I think I’ve been going for nine years and I think last year was actually the only year I haven’t won as a pro which was quite frustrating, not to get that buzz of winning. So I want to try and get to at least 10 and then get to 20 as quick as possible after that.”
The Asian Development Tour (ADT) and MENA Tour will break new ground in May, when they jointly-sanction four events in Phuket – which will be called the “Beautiful Thailand Swing”.
Four three-day events will take place over a span of three weeks at Laguna Golf Phuket and Blue Canyon Country Club, signifying the start of an emerging new relationship between the ADT and MENA Tours.
The ADT restarted last week with the Gurugram Challenge in India, where victory went to American Dodge Kemmer, following a two-year break caused by the pandemic.
“This marks another significant moment in our return,” said Cho Minn Thant, CEO & Commissioner, Asian Tour.
“The Asian Development Tour is an important part of our architecture and while it was encouraging to see it restart in India last week it is really exciting for it now to be building momentum and heading to Phuket for four events with our friends from the MENA Tour.”
Last year the Asian Tour entered a strategic partnership with the MENA Tour which will help facilitate the formation of one of the most comprehensive and innovative development tours in the modern game.
The “Beautiful Thailand Swing” represents the start of this process.
“We are truly excited to return to action next month. It’s been a long wait, but I am glad the hard work has paid off. Our members will have much to play for as the ‘Beautiful Thailand Swing’ will conclude our 2020+ season and the winner for the 2020+ ‘Journey to Jordan’ will be crowned,” said David Spencer, Commissioner, MENA Tour.
For the “Beautiful Swing Thailand” there will be a two-day gap between each event and players from both Tours will compete for a prize purse of US$75,000 in each tournament. The standard 36-hole cut of 50 professionals and ties applies.
PHUKET-THAILAND- A general view of Hole No 11 on Friday December 3, 2021 during round two of the Asian Tour’s Laguna Phuket Championship 2021 at Laguna Golf Phuket, with a prize fund of US$ 1 Million. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.
The four-event swing will kick off at Laguna Golf Phuket with the Laguna Phuket Challenge starting on May 3, followed by the Laguna Phuket Cup which commences on May 8.
Players will then proceed to play the Blue Canyon Classic which will be held at the Lakes course of the Blue Canyon Country Club from May 13. The swing then concludes with the Blue Canyon Open which will be played at the Canyon course from May 18.
Blue Canyon Country Club and Laguna Golf Phuket successfully hosted the Asian Tour Phuket Series, which marked the Asian Tour’s return to action last November. Laguna Golf Phuket is also an Asian Tour Destination which has hosted multiple ADT events in the past.
The top 10 available professional players from the final 2020+ ‘Journey to Jordan’ will be invited to play in the next two ADT events following the Thailand swing. The winner of the 2020+ ‘Journey to Jordan’ will also receive an invitation to play in one of the upcoming Asian Tour ‘International Series’ tournaments in 2022.
The leading seven players on the final ADT Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn playing rights on the Asian Tour in 2023.
The Boonchu Ruangkit Championship, won by Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert in January 2020, will be counted as the opening event of the ADT new season.
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Changhwa, Chinese Taipei, December 29: Overnight leader Donlaphatchai Niyomchon of Thailand was declared the winner of the season-ending US$160,000 Taifong Open after officials cancelled the fourth and final round due to inclement weather.
Donlaphatchai, who carded a bogey-free four-under-par 68 in the third round, completed a wire-to-wire victory to triumph by two shots with a winning total of nine-under-par 207 and claimed his maiden Asian Development Tour (ADT) title at the Taifong Golf Club.
The 29-year-old Thai would take home a winner’s prize purse of US$28,000 and propel from 94th to third place on the final 2019 ADT Order of Merit, thereby securing his Asian Tour card for the 2020 season. He also receives six Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points following his win.
“I am really happy. It’s a great ending to my season. I have been working very hard on my fitness for the last two years and I’m glad it has paid off. I have waited very long for this win too and I can’t wait to play on the Asian Tour next year,” said Donlaphatchai, who turned professional in 2010 and only claimed his breakthrough win on home soil last year.
Donlaphatchai is the third Thai, following Rattanon Wannasrichan (2015) and Pannakorn Uthaipas (2017), to win the Taifong Open, which was inaugurated in 2014 as the richest event on the ADT schedule.
Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-lun and Tseng Tzu-hsuan settled for second place with Japan’s Daisuke Yasumoto and young Thai Atiruj Winaicharoenchai following respective closing rounds of 67, 69, 68 and 69 in the season finale.
Naoki Sekito capped a season’s haul of US$50,942 following his tied-61st place finish at the Taifong Open and became the very first Japanese to win the Order of Merit on the ADT, which was inaugurated in 2010 as a gateway to the Asian Tour.
“I can’t explain how happy I am to win the ADT Order of Merit. It’s the first time a Japanese has won the Order of Merit so I feel really honoured. I am so excited for next year,” said the 22-year-old Naoki, who has notched two wins and five top-10s on the ADT this season.
Thailand’s Pannakorn Uthaipas, Donlaphatchai and Itthipat Buranatanyarat would end the season in second (US$29,794), third (US$29,697) and fourth (US$29,672) place respectively on the final Merit rankings.
With Wang, who has already secured his Asian Tour card by finishing inside top-60 on the 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit, finishing fifth on the money list, the remaining three Asian Tour cards will be awarded to England’s Steve Lewton, American Trevor Simsby and Seung Park of Korea, placed sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
The leading seven players, not otherwise exempted, on the final 2019 ADT Order of Merit following the conclusion of the Taifong Open earned their Asian Tour cards for the 2020 season.
The final round, originally scheduled to start at 7.10am local time, was delayed by 30 minutes three times before officials made the decision to cancel the fourth round of the popular event, which is celebrating its sixth consecutive edition on the ADT.
“After deliberation, the organising committee has decided to cancel the final round due to continuous rain which is expected to last throughout the day and conditions were deemed unplayable due to low visibility,” said Jittisak Tamprasert, Asian Tour Director of Rules & Competitions.
“The 2019 Taifong Open has been shortened to 54 holes and overnight leader Donlaphatchai has been declared the winner of the tournament,” added Jittisak.
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Changhwa, Chinese Taipei, December 28: Thailand’s Donlaphatchai Niyomchon edged closer to a breakthrough victory on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) when he returned with a bogey-free four-under-par 68 to extend his overnight lead to two at the Taifong Open on Saturday.
The 29-year-old Donlaphatchai, who held the lead since the opening round, highlighted his flawless card with four birdies to stay atop the leaderboard with a three-day total of nine-under-par 207 at the season-ending event, which boasts a prize purse of US$160,000.
His playing partners Atiruj Winaicharoenchai of Thailand and Chinese Taipei’s Tseng Tzu-hsuan posted matching 69s to share second place with Japan’s Daisuke Yasumoto (68) and Wang Wei-lun (67) of Chinese Taipei at the highly acclaimed Taifong Golf Club.
Donlaphatchai took advantage of his accuracy off the tee and his solid iron-play to keep up his chase for one of the seven coveted Asian Tour cards on offer at the event, which is celebrating its sixth consecutive edition on the ADT this week.
“My tee shots were good. I hit 16 greens today. It wasn’t as windy as yesterday. My best hole today was the fifth. I hit the green in two shots and had an eagle putt from about 15 feet,” said Donlaphatchai, who sits in 94th place on the Merit rankings and needs a victory to help him break into top-seven on the final money list.
“I wasn’t thinking too much out there. I just told myself to play shot by shot. It will be the same case tomorrow. I’ll just focus on my game and not think too much,” added Donlaphatchai, who won on his home soil last year for his first professional victory in nine years.
Atiruj lamented a cold putter but took pride in his solid approaches for a commendable round of five birdies against two bogeys. The 19-year-old Thai is playing in his first season on the ADT and making his debut appearance in the Taifong Open this week.
“I played my iron shots really good today, especially on the back nine. Nice to get that three birdies in a row from the 12th. I was able to hit it close. My putting wasn’t as good today. I gave myself a lot of opportunities on the front nine but couldn’t make most of them.
“I am just going to aim for an under-par round tomorrow. A top-five or top-10 finish would be great, said Atiruj, who joined the play-for-pay ranks in 2018 and claimed his first victory on home soil in what was only his second start as a professional.
Local hotshot Wang rekindled his love affair with the Taifong Golf Course when he fired six birdies against a bogey to put himself in the mix for a second ADT title at the event, where he came in runner-up in 2016 and finished top-10 last year.
“I’ve played this course a lot of times. I kind of know how to navigate my way around here. I have had some good results here. Tomorrow I will just try my best but if the weather is not good, I wouldn’t play too aggressively too.”
“Coming into this week, I really have no expectations. I have already achieved my goal of getting my Asian Tour card this year so I’m not thinking too much now. It’s nice to put myself in a good position again for the final round tomorrow,” said the 26-year-old Wang.
The leading seven players, not otherwise exempted, on the final 2019 ADT Order of Merit following the conclusion of the Taifong Open on Sunday will earn their Asian Tour cards for the 2020 season.
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Changhwa, Chinese Taipei, December 24: Order of Merit leader Naoki Sekito of Japan will be looking to cap a memorable season on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) with a fine showing at the US$160,000 Taifong Open, which gets underway on Thursday.
The race to top the ADT Order of Merit and finish inside top-seven on the Merit rankings will also reach its climax this week at the popular event, which was inaugurated as the richest tournament on the region’s secondary circuit in 2014.
With a winner’s prize purse of US$28,000 up for grabs, the stakes are high at the Taifong Golf Club as a total of 120 players from 13 countries will be vying to earn one of the seven coveted Asian Tour cards on offer for the 2020 season.
The 22-year-old Sekito, who has bagged two wins and five top-10 finishes this season, will take aim at becoming the first ever Japanese player to lift the Order of Merit crown on the ADT, which was launched as a gateway to the Asian Tour in 2010.
“I feel very excited coming into this week. I didn’t expect myself to play so well this season. I have won twice on the ADT and I just got through the Japan Golf Tour Qualifying School two weeks ago. Now that I’ve got my card in Japan, I hope to secure my card on the Asian Tour too.
“It has been a great experience playing on the ADT. I learnt to travel on my own and I get to visit a lot of different countries. I will give it my best again this week. I didn’t come here just to win the Order of Merit. I want to win the event as well,” Sekito said.
He leads the Order of Merit by more than US$20,000 with his season’s haul of US$50,278 and is all but guaranteed of his place as Thailand’s Itthipat Buranatanyarat, American Trevor Simsby and compatriot Ryuichi Oiwa, placed third, fifth and sixth respectively, all have a mathematical chance to chase him down with a win this week.
Ittiphat Buranatanyrat of Thailand
Itthipat missed out on his 2020 Asian Tour card after finishing 74th on the final Asian Tour Order of Merit last week. He hopes to make amends by putting up a solid performance at the Taifong Open to cement his position inside top-seven on the ADT money list, thereby regaining his playing rights on the Asian Tour.
“I feel like I’m on a holiday this week. It’s my last event of the year. I just want to enjoy myself. I had a good start to the year, hoping to finish off well too. I’ve played here for a few times now. You need to keep hitting fairways and greens to score out there,” said the 26-year-old Itthipat, who has claimed one win and two top-10s on the ADT this season.
Leunkwang Kim of Malaysia
Leunkwang Kim of Malaysia, who turns 25 years old on Christmas Day Wednesday, hopes to make it a week to remember by breaking into top-seven on the Merit rankings to earn his playing rights on the Asian Tour next season.
“It’s the biggest event on the ADT schedule but I’m just going to treat it like any other tournament. I will continue to do my very best. It’s Christmas week so I’m just going to have as much fun as I can,” said Kim, a one-time winner on the ADT this season.
“It’s my birthday tomorrow. I have never played golf on my birthday but I guess there’s a first for everything. I believe I’m getting more experienced as time goes,” added Kim, who sits in 13th place on the current rankings.
The Taifong Open, which is celebrating its sixth edition on the ADT this week, returns with great significance as it will be the season finale for the first time on the region’s secondary circuit, bringing the 2019 season to a memorable end.
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