A two-time Olympic downhill skier turned mini-tour professional, the brother of a popular Asian Tour winner and a graduate of the U.S. collegiate system with world-famous team-mates who has, until now, had nowhere to pursue his own life-changing dreams.

Even before a ball has even been struck, the three-week, four-event Beautiful Thailand Swing (BTS) has fulfilled its overarching remit of providing players from every corner of the globe with a launchpad to the game’s loftiest stages.

Among the veritable melting pot of nationalities set to be represented in the $75,000, 54-hole events ­– two apiece at Laguna Golf Phuket and Blue Canyon Country Club and all four co-sanctioned by the Asian Development and MENA Tours – is Andorra.

Kevin Esteve played age-group tennis for the Principality but made his name in alpine skiing, finishing as high as sixth in the Combined Downhill at the 2011 Garmisch World Championship. Now 32, he twice marched into Olympic cauldrons for Andorra, first at Vancouver 2010 and again at Sochi 2014 where he achieved his Olympic best result of 32nd in the downhill. Sadly he also crashed in Sochi, suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury so severe that it lead to three surgeries and eventually to Esteve turning his back on the slippery slopes.

Undeterred, Esteve made the most of his recovery by finishing his sports degree in France and throwing himself into golf. He’s now ranked 1387th in the OWGR, is 42nd in the MENA Tour’s Journey to Jordan Order of Merit race entering the BTS and is coming off an encouraging T-6 finish at the ECCO Tour Spanish Masters in early March, an OWGR-sanctioned Nordic Golf League event.

Ferdinand Müeller, looking to get his career underway in Thailand.

Galven Green is another looking forward to the first stop of the BTS, the Laguna Phuket Challenge starting on Tuesday, after accepting a special invite from the MENA Tour. The Malaysian is the younger brother of three-time ADT winner, Rio 2016 Olympian and 2017 Mercuries Taiwan Masters (Asian Tour) champion Gavin Green. New Mexico University alumni Galven, the world No. 1724, is no stranger to Asian Tour followers nor the courses set to host the BTS, having teed it up in the Blue Canyon Phuket Challenge (MC) and the Laguna Phuket Championship (T-71) before Christmas and then the SMBC Singapore Open (MC) in early January.

There was due to be another familiar surname on the Laguna Phuket Challenge start sheet this week but sadly Devin Suri, the brother of DP World Tour winner Julian, is an 11th-hour scratching due to a wrist injury. It is not known if he will be fit enough to tee it up in the Laguna Phuket Cup (May 8-10), Blue Canyon Classic (May 13-15) or the Blue Canyon Open (May 18-20).

There will be great interest in the Phuket performances of Ferdinand Müeller who counts current world No. 6 Viktor Hovland and fellow PGA Tour winner Matthew Wolff among his former teammates at Oklahoma State University (OSU). The 24-year-old German was also a Cowboys’ team-mate of Dubai-based Indian Rayhan Thomas, the first amateur to win on the MENA Tour. The pandemic hasn’t been kind to Müeller, who was named a first-team Academic All-Big 12 selection in his senior year (2019-20) at OSU, as he has been unable to tee it up in a Q-School. Thankfully, the strategic alliance struck between the Asian and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Tours has proved a foothold on the OWGR ladder.

The BTS serves as the first events for the MENA Tour since it was shut down by COVID-19 on March 4, 2020 – 790 long and challenging days. The ADT resumed action in late March/early April at the Tata Steel-backed Gurugram Challenge in India. Dodge Kemmer won at Classic Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon but the American won’t be at the Laguna Phuket Challenge at least as he as secured a start in the Asian Tour’s 41st GS Caltex Maekyung Open at Namseoul Country Club from May 5-8.

The next five players in the ADT Order of Merit – Chanat Sakulpolphaisan (Thailand), Andreas Gronkvist (Sweden), Arnond Vongvanij (Thailand), Yuvraj Sandhu (India) and Joshua Grenville-Wood (England) – are confirmed starters.

Grenville-Wood is a duel ADT/MENA Tour member and determined to secure a top-seven finish in the season-long ADT OOM race and in turn snare a 2023 Asian Tour card.

The 24-year-old Dubai-based Englishman will also participate in the MENA Tour battle within the wider BTS battle. The top-10 players in the final 2020+ Journey to Jordan standings, which will be decided after the BTS-deciding Blue Canyon Open, will earn invites to the next two ADT events and critically, exemption to the final stage of Asian Tour Q-School. The Journey to Jordan champion will also receive an invite to one of the Asian Tour’s new $1.5 million-plus International Series events in 2022. The three leading players in that race, Englishman David Langley and David Hague and Scotsman Ryan Lumsden, are all competing in Phuket.

At last count, players from 29 countries were listed to tee it up in the 144-strong Laguna Phuket Challenge field made up of 55 ADT, 55 MENA Tour, 20 All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT) and 14 invites split evenly between the ADT and MENA Tours.

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.

Ends.

American Dodge Kemmer claimed his first title in Asia after a decade of trying when he won the US$75,000 Gurugram Challenge today – an event jointly sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour and Professional Golf Tour of India.

He shot a fine final round six-under-par 66 (his third 66 in a row) at Classic Golf & Country Club, just outside New Delhi, to impressively finish 23 under and beat Thailand’s Chanat Sakulpolaphaisan by three shots. Chanat closed with a 68, while India’s Arjun Bhati was two shots further back in third after shooting 66.

Indonesian Rory Hie, the leader after each of the first three days, carded a disappointing 73 to tie for fourth, six behind Kemmer, with Indian Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (67) and England’s Joshua Grenville-Wood (68).

Kemmer, aged 34, started the final round one behind Hie, but played flawless golf to win, carding four birdies on the front and two on the back.

Dodge Kemmer of the USA (Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour).

His success ratified his decision to stay on for the event after last week’s The DGC Open presented by Mastercard, where he finished joint 49^th.

“It was a great decision!” said Kemmer.

“I like being in India, it was an easy choice. Obviously, a win is always good and good for the confidence and gets me in a good place on the ADT list in case I need that to stay on the Asian Tour next year.”

The American, a graduate of the prestigious Stanford University like current Asian Tour number one Sihwan Kim from the United Sates, turned professional in 2010 and made it through the Asian Tour Qualifying School in 2012. His best finish on the Asian Tour came in the 2017 Bashundhara Bangladesh Open while he has also three top-five ADT finishes to his name.

He added: “I saw on the forecast it was going to be windy and I noticed a lot of the pins yesterday and they were definitely the hardest of the week so I didn’t have a number in mind or expectations but I knew that scores would probably be higher, just with the wind and the pins, and so probably played a little more conservative if anything into the greens and that definitely paid off as I didn’t have any bogeys, which is a great way to have a final round.”

Hie had been favourite to add this week’s trophy to his 2019 Classic Golf & Country Club International Championship win on the Asian Tour at the same venue but never recovered from a double bogey seven on the par-five third.

The Asian Development Tour (ADT), the Asian Tour’s feeder circuit, makes its long awaited and popular return this week, after a two-year break caused by the pandemic, at the inaugural Gurugram Challenge in India.

The US$75,000 tournament tees off tomorrow at the Classic Golf & Country Club in Nuh, Haryana, close to the national capital New Delhi, and will be jointly sanctioned with the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).

Prominent names participating include Asian Tour winners Rashid Khan and Khalin Joshi from India and Indonesian Rory Hie – who won the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship on the Asian Tour at Classic Golf & Country Club in 2019.

Joshi also has good memories of playing at Classic Golf & Country Club as he won a PGTI event at the venue in 2016.

Khalin said: “It’s good to be back at Classic where I have won in the past. The course is in great condition with the fairways and greens being immaculate. There is no rough so putting would hold the key this week.

“After I won on the PGTI last October, I fell ill and missed an event. So, the swing has not felt the same since then and I’ve not been at the top of my game. But I’m feeling good heading into this week. I know it’s just about shooting one low score and the confidence will be back.”

The last time an ADT event was played was the Boonchu Ruangkit Championship in January of 2020, when Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert triumphed.

“One of the Asian Tour’s greatest achievements over the past decade has been the successful implementation of the Asian Development Tour,” said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner & CEO, Asian Tour.

“Launched in 2010, our incredibly popular secondary Tour has been a conveyor belt of stars of the future – such as current Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Korean Joohyung Kim and four-time Asian Tour winner John Catlin from the United States – and so I am truly delighted that the Asian Development Tour will restart this week after a two-year hiatus.

“The Gurugram Challenge, in collaboration with our friends at the Professional Golf Tour of India and the Classic Golf & Country Club, commences a season when we are expecting to stage 10-12 tournaments as we rebuild and look to get back to a full schedule next year.”

Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, added: “We are delighted to jointly sanction the inaugural Gurugram Challenge along with the Asian Development Tour. The tournament is yet another initiative to provide international exposure to Indian professionals. We thank the Classic Golf & Country Club for partnering with us in staging the event. We look forward to the event emerging as a regular feature on the PGTI schedule in the coming years.”

Classic Golf & Country Club is also a member of Asian Tour Destinations – an exclusive network of world-class golfing venues with direct ties to the Asian Tour.

For live scoring, please click here.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 28: Thailand’s Suttijet Kooratanapisan shot a solid successive four-under-par 68 to claim a share of the second round clubhouse lead at the PGM Maybank ADT Championship with countryman Atiruj Winaicharoenchai, Shinichi Mizuno of Japan and Matt Killen of England on Thursday.

Suttijet, a one-time Asian Development Tour (ADT) winner, kept his hopes of winning his first title of the season alive when he traded seven birdies against three bogeys at the Saujana Golf and Country Club.

Joint first round leaders Mizuno, the defending champion and Atiruj both maintained their position atop the leaderboard following matching 70s to share the lead with Killen (68) on an eight-under-par 136 total.

Local hopeful Amir Nazrin (69) was among the three players tied in fourth-place, just one shot adrift. Maybank ambassador Gavin Green, too, gave the home fans something to cheer about as he bounced back with an improved 68 to move to three-way tie for ninth on 139.

The second round of the US$54,000 tournament, which is the second last stop of the 2019 ADT schedule, was halted at 5.34pm local time due to lightning threat. A total of 28 players will return to complete their second round at 7.30am on Friday.

Suttijet is hoping to translate his recent good form into a second victory on the ADT. His sole triumph was at the PGM Palm Resort Championship in 2016.

Prior to this week, Suttijet had performed well in his last two Asian Tour starts, finishing tied 23rd at the Panasonic Open India and tied 12th at the Sabah Masters.

“I love playing in Malaysia. It feels like playing back home, the grass and green is very similar to the golf courses in Thailand.

“It was also in Malaysia three years that I earned my breakthrough on the ADT. Hopefully I’ll be able to end my title drought here too,” said Suttijet.

Teeing off from the 10th hole, Suttijet made a modest start when he mixed three birdies with two bogeys to turn in 35.

He then stepped up his game, firing four birdies in the next eight holes before a closing bogey prevented him from securing an outright lead.

“I hit my approach shots very well today and gave myself lots of birdie chances which I converted. The course is narrow, hitting a good first shot is equally crucial too.

“The best birdie I had was at the hole 18. My third shot went past the green a little bit, but I made a good chip in there.

“As for the last hole, I didn’t hit it as straight as I wanted before the second shot landed in the bunker. I actually recovered well with my shot rolled quite close to the hole, but I missed the putt.

“But that’s no big deal. There’s still two days left,” he said.

The leading seven players on the ADT Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn playing rights on the premier Asian Tour for the 2019 season.

Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points are offered for all ADT events. The winner will earn a total of six OWGR points while the top-six players and ties earn points on a sliding scale.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 26: Malaysian ace Gavin Green will lend his star credentials to the PGM Maybank ADT Championship when it gets underway at the Saujana Golf and Country Club on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old, who is the ASEAN ambassador of the Malaysian banking giants Maybank, will make his first Asian Development Tour (ADT) appearance in more than two years when he headlines the US$54,000 tournament, which is the penultimate stop of the season.

Green, who has been mainly competing on the European Tour this season, is thrilled to be playing again in the region’s secondary circuit where he had won three times, including being the first amateur winner following his victory in 2014.

Green secured his Asian Tour promotion by finishing second on the ADT Order of Merit in 2016 and his career has gone from strength to strength ever since.

He impressed right away in his debut season, bagging a title and three runner-up finishes to be crowned the 2017 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion.

“It will certainly bring back some good memories, the ADT was where it all started for me after I turned pro in 2015. I’m happy to be able to play this week.

“It’s a great circuit and very competitive too,” said Green, who has also signed up for next month’s Thailand Masters on the Asian Tour as he seeks to end the year on a high.

The world No. 243 Green is also eying the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points at stake in the tournament to boost his position whilst doing his part for Maybank.

“I will certainly not say no to the ranking points.

However, more importantly, this is the Maybank leg of the ADT and it’s a good opportunity for me as their ASEAN ambassador to play in this event.

“It will be nice to do well as this will definitely help in preparing for the Maybank Championship next year. I like this (Palm) course and I had a lot of good memories playing here,” said Green.

The local contingent also comprises of newly-wed Nicholas Fung and Ben Leong, both winners on the Asian Tour.

They will battle for the US$9,529 top prize with the likes of Japanese duo – current Order of Merit leader Naoki Sekito and last year’s champion Shinichi Mizuno, as well as the other top performers of the season such as Thailand’s Pannakorn Uthaipas, England’s Steve Lewton and American Trevor Simsby.

But all eyes will be on Sekito, who is hoping to edge closer to the Order of Merit victory with yet another strong result.

Sekito was playing catch up in second place to Korea’s Joohyung Kim before the latter’s made his Asian Tour breakthrough at the Panasonic Open India a fortnight ago. .

Kim, who won his third AT title this season in Pakistan last month to earn playing rights on the Asian Tour for the remainder of the season, secured a one-year winner’s exemption on the Asian Tour following his victory.

Having secured his Asian Tour card for 2020, the 17-year-old teen sensation will no longer feature on the ADT Order of Merit as he will not be eligible for any of the remaining ADT events this season.

Sekito, who amassed US$49,827 to date, leads by more than US$20,000 from second-placed Pannakorn (US$29,293).

“I didn’t expect to be back on top again! Fortunately my friend Kim earned Asian Tour breakthrough recently and this paved way for me to lead the money list once more, after losing it to Kim earlier on.

“I was so happy for Kim and he inspired me a lot. I’ve played with him in a lot of tournaments this year and the guy has already won on Asian Tour! I feel like I’m not too far from it too.

“But for now my goal is to win the OOM to secure a better exemption status on Asian Tour next year.

“I know I’m getting close to it and just need solid finish this week. No Japanese has done it before, so I’ll be so happy if I can accomplish the goal for my country,” said Sekito.

Photo credit: OB Golf

Bandung, Indonesia, September 24: Malaysia’s Brandon Lau set the early pace by carding an opening five-under-par 67 at the Combiphar Players Championship on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old, still winless after playing four seasons on the Asian Development Tour (ADT), mixed his card with seven birdies and two bogeys to lead by one shot from local hope Joshua Andrew Wirawan at the US$100,000 event.

Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-lun and American Trevor Simsby carded identical 69s to take third place while Sam Gillis of the United States, Jesse Yap of Singapore and Udayan Mane of India are tied for fifth at a further shot back at the Parahyangan Golf.

Lau, who started on the back-nine 10, dropped a bogey on 13 but quickly recovered with three birdies over the next four holes to turn in 34.

The Malaysian continued his solid display after crossing over, picking up four more shots including a hat-trick of birdies on holes six, seven and eight to offset his second blemish of the day on five.

“I’m very pleased with a 67 today as this golf course could play pretty tough in the wind.

“I played simple golf today and I stuck to my game plan. Hit fairways and greens and fortunately made quite a few putts within eight feet and in which helped a lot.

“But other than that I just minimised mistakes today and put the ball in play that was basically it,” said Lau.

Lau insists the good start would count for nothing if he cannot replicate the same consistency over the next three rounds.

At the PGM Northport ADT Championship last month, Lau also fired 67 to be just one shot off the pace after the opening round, but failed to build on it and settled for tied 25th.

“Consistency will happen through experience. So, I won’t try to put four good rounds together.

“I’ll just play my game and let it happen. Not going to think about it and take it one round at a time,” he said.

Wirawan credited his strong iron play after he impressed with a round of seven birdies, with five coming from the opening eight holesand three bogeys.

“In the first-nine, my iron play was really good. I hit a lot of greens and most of them landed on within 10 feet, and I made the most of my putts.

“I could not do as well in the back-nine though as the wind started to pick up. I was struggling to figure out on my club selection, especially on par-three. But overall I’m happy with my game today,” said Wirawan, who has one domestic title won in 2017 under his belt.

Wirawan hopes to take advantage of the solid start and try turn it into a possible victory.

Inspired by compatriot Rory Hie’s recent Asian Tour triumph, Wirawan hopes to bring further glory to Indonesia in golf.

“I had a chat with Rory after his win in India. He was trying to lift my confidence by saying ‘you have to play to win, not just to make cut. If I can do it, so can you’. That was truly inspiring and hopefully I can do the same too!” said Wirawan.

George Gandranata remainsthe only Indonesian golfer to have emerged ADT winner when he clinched the PGM LADA Langkawi Championship in 2016.

By featuring on the ADT schedule, the Combiphar Players Championship will offer Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.

The winner will receive six OWGR points while the top six players and ties will also earn points based on a sliding scale.

Jakarta, Indonesia, July 25: The highly rated Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament 2019 presented by Panasonic will return for its sixth consecutive edition on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) from August 21 to 24 (Wednesday to Saturday) next month.

The popular event will continue to boast a prize purse of US$110,000 and will once again be held at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course – BSD Course by Damai Indah Golf, located in Tangerang, Greater Jakarta.

Co-sanctioned by the ADT and the Professional Golf Tour of Indonesia,the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament 2019 presented by Panasonic will be the 11th leg of the 2019 ADT season and the third event to be played in Indonesia this year.

Last August, Miguel Carballo claimed a thrilling victory for his first ADT title after prevailing in a record-breaking play-off battle that stretched over seven holes. He became the first ever Argentinean to win on the ADT following his breakthrough win.

Carballo had closed with a flawless eight-under-par 64 to force the sudden-death play-off with Amir Nazrin of Malaysia and Poom Pattaropong of Thailand after the trio was tied on 16-under-par 272 total in regulation play.

The play-off battle, held on the par-five 18th hole, saw Amir getting eliminated on the first extra hole after he hit a wayward tee shot into the water hazard which resulted in a par while Carballo and Poom birdied.

The remaining duo then went head to head in what is the longest play-off battle on the ADT since the secondary circuit was inaugurated in 2010. The lengthy play-off also matched the record set on the premier Asian Tour in 2001.

Carballo would go on to cap a solid 2018 season where he was crowned the ADT Order of Merit champion, thanks to one win and eight other top-10s in 13 starts.He is now a two-time winner on the region’s secondary circuit after claiming his second title in Thailand two months ago.

In 2017, Japan’s Masaru Takahashi sensationally ended a four-year title droughtwhen he closed with an eight-under-par 64 to win by one shot over Singaporean veteran Mardan Mamat for his second ADT title.

The 31-year-old Takahashi went on to cap a superb season where he finished second on the final ADT Order of Merit in 2017, courtesy of one win and nine top-10s, and secured his playing rights for the Asian Tour season in 2018.

Oscar Zetterwall of Sweden earned for himself a prized Tour card for the 2017 Asian Tour season after finishing third on the 2016 ADT Order of Merit, thanks largely to his victory at the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament that year.

At the 2015 Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament, Michael Tran of Vietnam secured his ADT breakthrough after prevailing in a play-off while James Byrne of Scotland emerged victorious after claiming a three-shot victory in the inaugural edition in 2014.

DR. (HC) Ir. Ciputra, Chairman of the Ciputra Group, said: “We’re excited to announce the return of the tournament on the ADT this year. We have celebrated many worthy winners through the staging of the event over the past few years and we hope to continue doing our utmost best in supporting the development of golf not only in Indonesia but across Asia.”

This year will mark the third year that Panasonic will provide a special exemption to the 2019  Panasonic Open in Japan.  The exemption goes to the best Indonesian professional at the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament.  Last year Danny Masrin took the honor of the best Indonesian professional.

Jimmy Masrin, Chairman of the Asian Tour, said: “On behalf of our members, I would like to express our appreciation to Ciputra and Panasonic for their unwavering dedication towards the development of golf in the region.

“The ADT has proven to be a successful platform for aspiring golfers to hone their skills and gain valuable competitive golf experiences but we would not be able to achieve that without the support and commitment of sponsors like Ciputra and Panasonic.”

“We are proud to be receiving the continuous support of a global company like Panasonic. We have enjoyed great successes and proud of the commitment until this edition” added Budiarsa Sastrawinata the Managing Director of Ciputra Group.

Being one of the richest events on the ADT schedule this season, the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament will play a pivotal role in determining the Order of Merit rankings, where the top seven players on the final 2019 Order of Merit will earn a coveted Asian Tour card for 2020.

By featuring on the ADT schedule, the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament will also offer Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points. The winner will receive at least six OWGR points while the top six players and ties will also earn points based on a sliding scale.

For more information on the ADT, please visit www.asiandevelopmenttour.com.

Ends.  

Bogor, Indonesia, July 16: The inaugural Gunung Geulis Golf Invitational Supported by Nomura will make its debut on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) when the US$75,000 events gets underway from July 30 to August 2 (Tuesday -Friday).

The newest ADT event is the Tour’s second stop in Indonesia this season and will provide the region’s emerging stars with another playing opportunity at the highly-rated Gunung Geulis Golf and Country Club, located in Bogor, about 50 kilometres from the national capital of Jakarta.

The Gunung Geulis Golf and Country will also be hosting an ADT event for the third time since it first opened in 1992.

Danny Masrin, the highest-ranked Indonesian, is expected to spearhead the local charge alongside one-time ADT winner George Gandranata, who holds the honour of being the first Indonesian to win on the ADT in 2016.

An international field consisting of 144 players from close to 20 countries will likely feature at the East course at the Gunung Geulis Golf Invitational.

The ADT, which offers Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points, has already unearthed several promising talents and winners this season including a 17-year old Korean, Joohyung Kim and Thai sensation Sadom Kaewkanjana, who went on to become the fastest Qualifying School graduate to win on the Asian Tour in April.

Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and CEO of the Asian Tour, welcomed the addition of the Gunung Geulis Golf Invitational on the ADT, saying it will positively impact the professional golf scene across Indonesia and Asia.

“On behalf of the ADT, I would also like to thank OB Golf and the Gunung Geulis Golf Invitational for their strong commitment and support. I believe we can provide the platform for Indonesian golf to grow and develop through the staging of this event.

“The golf landscape in Indonesia is certainly very vibrant and promising and we are looking forward to seeing more young and exciting talents bursting into the scene through this new event,” said Cho.

The leading seven players on the final ADT Order of Merit will earn playing rights on the premier Asian Tour for the 2020 season and the winner of the Gunung Geulis Golf Invitational will take home a prize purse of US$13,125.

Ends.