Tomorrow’s Stars Today
Witnessing history and Asian Tour representation at The Open
Following the conclusion of the TAKE Solutions Masters, we have sanctioned 19 tournaments on the main Tour so far this season. Most definitely, we are on our way of meeting our goal of staging more than 30 events in 2018! As we enter September, we will have Asian Tour events on most weeks until middecember. We are bracing ourselves for this hectic and very exciting time of the year.
In August, we launched the third phase of our #whereitsat campaign, themed “Tomorrow’s Stars Today”. The promotional videos, featuring our next generation of stars, will be showcased on Asian Tour’s official website and social media channels that include Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Weibo. The videos will also be shown on many of the Tour’s global television broadcasters as well as Bloomberg TV, which is one of the official international media partners of the Asian Tour.
Our Newest Star – Justin Harding
During the past few weeks, we have witnessed history as South Africa’s Justin Harding became the first player on Tour to win twice in his first two starts in Asia. Before his participation at the Indonesia Open, we were notified by our counterparts from the Sunshine Tour about his brilliant form.
Harding was given an invite to play his first ever Asian Tour tournament, and the rest is history. He won the Indonesia Open by a shot on 18-underpar. Then at the Royal Cup, the in-form Harding shot 14-under-par to win by six shots over another strong field. Following these two victories, Harding ascended into 13th place on the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings and broke into the top-100 on the Official World Golf Rankings. We should expect more big things from this new and talented Asian Tour member in the future!
Major Success
Staying on the topic of our members, the Asian Tour was well represented
at The 147th Open as we had 15 of our players tee it up at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland. Our 2017 Order of Merit champion Gavin Green managed to make the cut on his Major debut, which was not an easy feat! The Malaysian eventually finished tied-61st together with fellow Asian Tour member Shaun Norris of South Africa. Other Asian Tour players who made the cut were India’s Shubhankar Sharma and Japan’s Yuta Ikeda who both finished tied-51st, Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura who was Asian Tour’s lowest finisher at tied-39th, as well as 2013 Order of Merit winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat who finished tied-75th. Congratulations to all of them!
Building a Better Future
Our partnership with Habitat for Humanity has now reached the six-month mark. In early July, I took part in a house-build in Jakarta with Asian Tour Chairman Jimmy Masrin, his daughter and her friends. It was an amazing experience that gave me a firsthand appreciation of the very important work volunteers and benefactors provide to this worthy organisation.
Thank you to all for your support! #whereitsat