Japanese aces eye Open glory
Prayad leads Thai challenge, seeks back-to-back titles at prestigious event in Pattaya
PATTAYA: Players from the Japan Golf Tour will provide a formidable challenge at this week’s US$1 million Singha Corporation Thailand Open with eight out of the top-10 from last year’s money list, including No.1 Koumei Oda, taking aim at the title.
Co-sanctioned for the second time by OneAsia and the Japan Golf Tour Organisation, the Thailand Open will be staged at Siam Country Club’s Plantation Course from June 11-14.
Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng, a four-time winner on the Japan tour, won the tournament when it was last played in 2013. Last year’s tournament was cancelled due to political problems in Thailand.
Oda, whose two victories last year brought his career total to eight, will be joined by the 2014 Order of Merit runner-up Hiroyuki Fujita, who has 18 titles to his credit, including three last year, Hiroshi Iwata, Katsumasa Miyamoto, Shingo Katayama, Yuta Ikeda, Kim Hyungsung and Yoshitaka Takeya.
Katayama, with an astonishing 28 victories in a glittering career, Ikeda, with 12 wins, and Miyamota, who has won 10 times, are established figures on the world’s third largest tour, while Kim Hyungsung is fast making a name for himself with a triumph in each of the last three seasons.
Oda, 38, had a memorable 2014 season with wins in the Kansai Open and Bridgestone Open and three runner-up finishes.
He led after the first round of the Thailand Open two years ago after a quite brilliant 64 at Thana City Golf and Sports Club.
He snared 11 birdies with a double bogey at the par-four 15th blighting his scorecard.
A second round 73 saw him slip down the leaderboard and he finished the tournament in joint 28th place.
Apart from Prayad, other Thai players include Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Thaworn Wiratchant and Prom Meesawat.
Kiradech, who won the Shenzhen International on the European Tour in April, has insisted on playing in his home Open despite a hectic international schedule which took him to Mauritius, England and Ireland in the past month.
Thaworn, one of the most successful Asian players of his generation with a record 18 Asian Tour titles and OneAsia’s 2011 Indonesia Open to his credit, would dearly love to add the Thailand Open to his long list of achievements.
“It is the one [title] I still want to win. I am running out of time but have a few more years to give it a go. I can be the oldest winner,” said the 48 year old, who has now recovered from a knee injury.
For Prom, winning the Thailand Open would result in equal bragging rights with his father who was the first Thai to lift the title in 1991.
“I would love to play the tournament every time it is staged,” he said of the Thailand Open. “It would mean a lot to me to win same as my dad.”