If you were asked to pick a player who you feel is best equipped to tackle The Serapong at Sentosa Golf Club, then you would need look no further than Sadom Kaewkanjana [main picture].

Cool, calm, and composed, he is the keeper of a structurally perfect golf swing – all the essentials needed to take on one of the region’s most-revered courses.

He showed that in 2022 when he coasted to a three-shot victory at the famous venue in the Singapore Open. It was an imperious performance that cemented his place as one of the Asia’s hottest young players.

Next week returns to scene of that impressive triumph for the Singapore Open presented by The Business Times. It’s the first time the tournament has been back to Sentosa Golf Club since then, and Sadom will start as one of the favourites in a field laden with firepower.

“It’s difficult to get close to the pins – that’s one of the most difficult things about the course,” said the 27-year-old this week as he prepares for the US$2million event, which will be part of The International Series for the second successive season.

“You need to put your ball into position off the tee, but the fairways are narrow, so your game really needs to be on!”

Sadom Kaewkanjana is congratulated by Tom Kim at the Singapore Open in 2022. Picture by Paul Lakatos/SPORTFIVE.

Fortunately, his game is nearly always on and finding fairways is his forte.

He said: “My form right now is okay. I made some changes on my backswing. I feel a little better but still need some time to get fully used to it. If I can execute this on the course, I think I’d have a pretty good chance, but I don’t want to focus too much on the outcome.”

Since that victory four years ago, Sadom has added one more Asian Tour trophy to his cabinet: last year’s Kolon Korea Open, played on another challenging venue: the Dunes Course at La Vie Est Belle, outside the capital Seoul.

“I think winning in Korea was even harder than Singapore as the course set up was very difficult. I had to remind myself that week to be patient and fully concentrate throughout all the rounds.” he said.

The Thai star has a penchant for National Opens as all three of his Asian Tour wins have been in them. His first came at the Bangladesh Open in 2019, which at the time made him the fastest qualifying school graduate to win on the Tour.

As an amateur star he also claimed the Indian, Malaysian and Philippine Amateur Opens, remarkably all in 2017. It’s no wonder he turned professional the following year.

That relationship with Opens also extends to the biggest of them all. His win in Singapore in 2022 rewarded him with a place in The Open, as the tournament was part of the Open Qualifying Series (OQS) – which will also be the case next week. He seized the opportunity by finishing joint 11^th at St Andrews, for comfortably the best finish by a Thai golfer in the game’s oldest Major.

Sadom made his second appearance in The Open last year. Picture by Getty Images.

Last year’s Korea Open was also part of OQS so he competed in the event for a second time, but despite featuring on the leaderboard early on he failed to progress to the weekend.

When he won at Sentosa in 2022, incredibly, Sadom was bogey free over the weekend. He was the joint third-round leader with American Sihwan Kim and fired a two-under-par 69 on Sunday to finish on 13 under and beat Japan’s Yuto Katsuragawa and Tom Kim from Korea by three strokes.

On a extremely hot day, possibly the conditions that will greet him next week, Sihwan Kim made bogey on the first to give Sadom the outright lead, and from there the Thai star did not look back. Birdies on six and seven saw him move three ahead and he calmly parred his way home and enjoyed the comfort of a three-shot lead playing 18.

He said: “My best memory from 2022 was the last hole on the final day. I remembered being very excited hitting the tee shot.  And of course, the last putt on 18 was definitely the most special memory of that week.”

The victory continued a remarkable run of form as in the final three months of the previous year, he won five times in Thailand on the domestic circuits – including the Thailand Open.

It also allowed him to secure second place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit in what was the final event of the 2020-22 season, when the global pandemic had played havoc with the schedule. Tom Kim took top spot to become the youngest winner of the Merit title at the age of 19, while it remains Sadom’s best ever finish on the rankings.

Australian Adam Scott is the only player to have claimed more than one Singapore Open title on the Serapong Course, as he has triumphed there three times – in 2005, 2006 and 2010. He holds the record for the most wins in the tournament.

Sadom will attempt to join him next week and become part of a select group of five players to have raised the prestigious trophy on more than one occasion. The others are Chinese-Taipei’s Lu Chien-soon and Hsieh Yung-yo,  Filipino Ben Arda, and Australian Frank Philips – winner of the inaugural event in 1961 before achieving the double four years later.

Back in 2023 he entered monkhood for a short period to gain merit for his parents and foster calmness. Many young Thai men do this including some of his peers, like Jazz Janewattananond, Prom Meesawat and Poom Saksansin.

He lived in a forest temple, shaved his head, and meditated for a few weeks. That was post winning his first Singapore Open and part of his attempt to become an even better person and player. Singapore will soon find out how far one of their National Open winners has come since then and whether The Serapong will once again prove no obstacle for one of the region’s finest golfers.

Story by Simon Wilson/Asian Tour.