Hie gets back to basics and leads the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship
Gurgaon, India, September 14: Indonesia’s Rory Hie gets back to basics and posted a five-under-par 67 to retain control of his lead after the third round of the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship on Saturday.
Hie, who has led the inaugural Asian Tour event since the opening day, returned to the fundamentals of the game and showed his determination of lifting his maiden Asian Tour title by storming home with three birdies in his last four holes to take a one-shot lead over India’s Rashid Khan with his three day total of 17-under-par 199.
Khan displayed promise of winning his third Asian Tour title as he signed for a 66. The 28-year-old was a picture of consistency as he went bogey-free for 46 holes before dropping his first shot of the week on the par-three 11.
The Indian, however rallied back with another four birdies on holes 12, 15, 16 and 18 to pile the pressure on Hie as he heads into the final 18 holes in second place at the Classic Golf and Country Club.
India’s Abhijit Chadha was a further shot back in third place after he returned with a 68 at a venue which he fondly regards as his winning home ground.
The lanky Indian has won at the Classic Golf and Country Club as a junior and then as an amateur and a third time as a professional on the domestic Tour in 2015.
Korea’s Byungjun Kim, who is playing on a country exemption spot this week, signed for a 67 to take fourth place.
The Korean is eager to surmount a late charge and hopefully make his Asian Tour breakthrough as he has limited playing opportunities on the region’s premier Tour.
Did you know?
- Rory Hie’s best Asian Tour finish came in the 2017 TAKE Solutions Masters in Bangalore where he finished tied-fourth.
- Hie’s best finish in 2019 has been a tied-fifth at the OB Golf Invitational on the Asian Development Tour (ADT)
- After earning First Team All American honors (golf) while at Cerritos High in California in 2004 and 2005, Hie played college golf as a freshman and sophomore at University of Southern California 2006-2008 before turning pro in 2009.
- Rashid Khan won twice on the Asian Tour in 2014, the Chiangmai Golf Classic and the SAIL-SBI Open, on his way to a career best 11th on the Order of Merit with US$243,600 in earnings.
- Having lost his card in 2018, Khan is well on his way to regain his playing status. Currently 34th on the Order of Merit with US$50,334 in earnings, his 2019 season has included a third-placed finish at the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open, tied-10th at the Hero Indian Open and two wins on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).
- Between 2013-2017 Khan never finished lower than 42nd on the Order of Merit and has career earnings of almost US$860,000.
- Aphijit Chadha earned his Asian Tour card this season by finishing tied-35th at Qualifying School last December, the second time he has finished inside the top-40 since 2015.
- His best result in an Asian Tour event came in 2014 when he finished tied-eight in the SAIL-SBI Open at Delhi Golf Club.
- The 28-year-old from Chandigarh was one of India’s top amateurs in 2010 and 2011, and a member of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
- Chadha finished a career-high third in the Professional Golf Tour of India’s (PGTI) 2015 Ranking, having secured a win at the BILT Open along with three other top-10 finishes, including two top-three results in the season.
- In his four Asian Tour events played in 2019, Byungjun Kim’s best result has been a tied-33rd finish at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open.
- Kim has had eight career top-10 finishes on the Korean PGA Tour (KPGA), including a win at the Daishin Securities KPGA Championship in 2011.
Rory Hie (Ina) Third round 67 (-5) Total 199 (-17)
This week has been pretty enjoyable for me because I managed to put into practice what I’ve been talking to Lawrie (Indonesia’s Golf National coach) about. I was struggling when I was playing the Indonesia Open last year and then he talked to me about how to play golf again like I did when I was a junior golfer. So I basically treated this tournament like when I was a kid basically (laughing) I just played golf, I didn’t think about my golf swing, everything was pretty positive, I was looking at where I wanted to place the ball. I always had a positive attitude towards every putt, it doesn’t matter if it’s a par putt or birdie putt. Right now I’m just really happy with the kind of golf I have been playing. But it also just shows that I still have the game.
Rashid Khan (Ind) Third Round 66 (-6) Total 200 (-16)
Today’s round was pretty good. I had a slow start, hit the ball well and hit some good putts, but just didn’t roll in. My first birdie was on the 7th and then the 9th and 10th as well. I dropped a shot on the 11th, I was in-between and ended up with a bogey. But a good comeback on the next hole with a two-putt birdie on the 12th. Playing a decent round, hitting the fairways, finding the greens. The scrambling is perfect. You need all of those things to score five-under or six-under.
Today, I just had one bad hole on 11th. Otherwise, I kept hitting on the green giving myself a lot of chances. On the 11th, I just didn’t bring my three-Iron. Last two days also, I didn’t keep a three iron and instead of that out a gap wedge in my bag. I hit a four-Iron and I knew it was going to end up short. Today the conditions were fine, especially the weather. There wasn’t much sun today and I enjoyed it today. I’m not thinking about anything for tomorrow. We’ll see on the last nine holes.
Abhijit Chadha (Ind) Third Round 68 (-4) Total 201 (-15)
I did well today. I didn’t make too many mistakes today. Just got a little unlucky with a couple of my putts. I had three or four lip-outs which could have easily gone in. I started off really hot. I was three-under after four holes. I was doing the right things and kept hitting the fairways. Later on as well, I was doing the same things and hitting it close but just that the putts weren’t going in. Those putts could have easily gone in and my score would have completely different. I’m playing well and am very positive.
Byungjun Kim (Kor) Third round 67 (-5) Total 202 (-14)
I hope I can win this tournament as I’ve limited starts on the Asian Tour and a win tomorrow will definitely open many doors for me. The week as been going well for me and I hope I can play a patient game tomorrow and hopefully something good will happen for me.
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
The Tournament
The Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship will be making its debut on the Asian Tour this week, offering a prize purse of US$300,000, of which US$54,000 will go to the winner.
The Course
Designed by the legendary Jack Nicklaus, the Classic Golf and Country Club will play as a par-72 and 7,114 yards from the championship tees.
The course opened for play in 1998 and though this is the first edition of this event, Classic Golf and Country Club has hosted three Tour events previously: the 2000 and 2001 Wills Indian Opens, and the 2009 SAIL Open.
Eight-time Asian Tour winner Jyoti Randhawa of India won in a play-off against South African Sammy Daniels in 2000, while Thai star Thongchai Jaidee claimed the 2001 edition by a single stroke over Ross Bain of Scotland.
The most notable event held at Classic was probably the 2009 SAIL Open. Chapchai Nirat of Thailand recorded the lowest ever score to par after 72 holes in a major golf tournament, and with a score of 32-under-par went on to win by 11 shots. This record still stands in the Guinness World Records today.
The Contenders
Since we have not been back to Classic Golf and Country Club since 2009, we are sort of in an uncharted territory when it comes to “horses for courses” picks.
Jyoti Randhawa is the only past winner of an Asian Tour event held at Classic in the field this week, and the list of players that has played in any of the three Asian Tour events held here is quite short.
So, this week’s picks will all be based mainly on current form, and I will start with the player who is maybe the hottest at the moment, first year pro Kosuke Hamamoto of Thailand.
A runner-up to Yikeun Chang last week in Taipei, and in doing so locking up his 2020 Asian Tour card, Hamamoto has been impressive all year.
With 14 top-20 finishes and seven top-10s on the Asian Tour, Asian Development Tour (ADT) and All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT) combined, he has shown remarkable consistency in performance.
Hamamoto made only one bogey in four rounds in Taipei last week and went bogey-free in his last 52 holes of the tournament. If he can emulate that feat at Classic this week, he could be a tough player to beat.
India’s Viraj Madappa won his maiden Asian Tour event just over a year ago in Bangalore, taking home the TAKE Solutions Masters trophy in his rookie Asian Tour season. Following up on a win in bigger events against stronger competition is never easy, but Madappa seems to have learned a lot from his experiences in the past year.
Excited to be playing in front of home crowds again, he is also full of confidence. After two solid events in a row in Taipei and Jakarta where he finished 25th and 22nd respectively, Madappa feels like he is playing well enough to win again.
Having the comfort of home crowds and past knowledge of the course could see him through to another top finish this week, and he would be a very popular player on top of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon.
Fellow Indian Chikkarangappa S. is definitely due for his first Asian Tour victory. “Chikka” has already won twice on the PGTI this season in his only two events played on that Tour, and also has two wins on the ADT, the 2014 and 2015 TAKE Solutions Masters.
With a tied-10th at the Hero Indian Open and a tied-20th finish at the Maybank Championship, having already secured his playing rights for the 2020 Asian Tour season should have him playing stress-free golf for the remainder of the year.
If he can get a sometimes-un-cooperative putter going, it would not be surprising to see Chikkarangappa lift the trophy this Sunday afternoon.
Perhaps the most experienced of the top-ranked players in the field this week is Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura. He finished second at this year’s Hero Indian Open and is currently ranked fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. He is also 50th on European Tour’s Race to Dubai Rankings and 183rd in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), impressive numbers.
Kawamura will be looking at this week as a way to secure a spot in the WGC-HSBC Champions field, and while he possibly needs some money, he definitely needs a start in a full-field event in order to qualify through the Asian Tour.
The top-four eligible players on the Order of Merit after next month’s Mercuries Taiwan Masters will qualify for WSG-HSBC Champions, and although Kawamura is fifth, he is currently the last player in since Yosuke Asaji will not be eligible through Asian Tour due to insufficient events played.
Here is what the Yeangder TPC winner Yikeun Chang had in the bag last week:
Driver: TaylorMade M5 10.5* Shaft: Mitsubishi-Chemical Fubuki J 70 X
Fairway1: TaylorMade M6 15* Shaft: Mitsubishi-Chemical Diamana DF 70 TX
Hb: Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 18* Shaft: FST KBS Proto 95 S+
Ut: Callaway Apex UT 24* Shaft: TrueTemper Dynamic Gold
Irons: TaylorMade P 760 (5-6) P 750 (7-8) P 730 (9-P) Shaft: TrueTemper Dynamic Gold X100
Wedge1: TaylorMade Milled Grind 50*
Wedge2: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 56* S-Grind
Wedge3: Titleist Vokey Design PROTO 59* J-Grind
Putter: Odyssey Stroke Lab Tuttle
Ball: Titleist Pro V1 x (2017)
Shoe: FootJoy
Cap: Shinhan Bank
Bag: TaylorMade
Glove: Titleist
Note: No 3-4 Iron
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
The Tournament
The US$500,000 Yeangder TPC has been a fixture on the Asian Tour since 2010, with last year’s trophy won by American John Catlin on a score of 15-under-par 273.
It was a close battle on the back nine on Sunday between Catlin and compatriot Sihwan Kim, but the 16th hole turned out to be the deciding factor. Kim playing in the penultimate group would make a bogey five, while Catlin in the final threesome of the day birdied the hole to take a two-shot lead he never relinquished.
The victory gave Catlin his third win of the year in his breakthrough season and he would go on to finish the year in sixth place on the Order of Merit with US$403,666 in earnings.
The Yeangder group that sponsors the event is a big supporter of professional golf in Chinese Taipei, also supporting a number of local touring pros who are playing on the Asian Tour and Asian Development Tour (ADT). They include Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-tang, Hung Chien-yao and Lu Wei-chih.
The Course
The Linkou International Golf and Country Club, located outside of Taipei, is a tree-lined par 72 layout playing to 7,108 yards from the championship tees. It is a regular host venue of the Yeangder TPC and has hosted all nine previous editions.
Last year’s winning score of 15-under-par is the lowest in the event’s history, while 12-under was enough to claim the top prize in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
The weather could be a big factor this week with rain, thunderstorms and windy conditions in the forecast. The tournament has been shortened to 54-holes due to weather on three occasions in the past, in 2010, 2012 and 2015.
The Contenders
The winner in Jakarta last week, Miguel Carballo of Argentina showed remarkable consistency in his game at Pondok Indah as he made only one bogey in 72 holes and played his last 49 holes with no score worse than par.
Posting a breakthrough Asian Tour win should have him full of confidence, and if he can keep bogeys off the card again this week, he should be near the top of the leaderboard come Sunday.
Although not having the best season so far with a tied-eight at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup as his best finish, local star Lu Wei-chih is always a threat when playing in Taipei.
A winner of the Yeangder TPC in 2011, Lu also finished fifth here last year and third in 2017. The four-time Asian Tour winner have won all his titles on home soil, and in addition the previous win in this event, he also won the Mercuries Taiwan Masters in 2005, 2011 and 2016.
One of the players sponsored by the Yeangder Group who would very much like to keep the trophy “in the family” is Hung Chien-yao. A one-time ADT winner at the Chang Hwa Open in 2013, he came very close to winning in Sarawak three weeks ago missing the play-off by only two shots.
Hung was the co-leader with Catlin after three rounds at Linkou last year, and after a final round of 68 settled for a solo-third place. He was the best local finisher in the event last year.
Thai star Prom Meesawat won the second of his two Asian Tour titles here in 2014 and has shown good form in 2019. Starting his season with a tied-fifth at the SMBC Singapore Open which qualified him for The Open, he has followed it up with two wins at the Singha Thailand Masters on the All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT) and the Butra Heidelberg Cement Brunei Championships on the ADT.
Prom also has two Asian Tour top-10s in Korea this season, coming at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open and the Kolon Korea Open, and should be considered a threat for a win this week.
A winner in his first Asian Tour event, the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open, after graduating Q-School by finishing tied-13th, Thai rookie Sadom Kaewkanjana has continued to play solid golf.
Coming off a tied-16th and tied-11th in his last two events, the Sarawak Championship and the Bank BRI Indonesia Open, he looks set to continue his good form. A top finish for Sadom would not be a surprise this week in Taipei.
Hie gets back to basics and leads the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship
By - Olle Norberg
[addtoany]
Indonesia’s Rory Hie gets back to basics and posted a five-under-par 67 to retain control of his lead after the third round of the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship
Gurgaon, India, September 14: Indonesia’s Rory Hie gets back to basics and posted a five-under-par 67 to retain control of his lead after the third round of the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship on Saturday.
Hie, who has led the inaugural Asian Tour event since the opening day, returned to the fundamentals of the game and showed his determination of lifting his maiden Asian Tour title by storming home with three birdies in his last four holes to take a one-shot lead over India’s Rashid Khan with his three day total of 17-under-par 199.
Khan displayed promise of winning his third Asian Tour title as he signed for a 66. The 28-year-old was a picture of consistency as he went bogey-free for 46 holes before dropping his first shot of the week on the par-three 11.
The Indian, however rallied back with another four birdies on holes 12, 15, 16 and 18 to pile the pressure on Hie as he heads into the final 18 holes in second place at the Classic Golf and Country Club.
India’s Abhijit Chadha was a further shot back in third place after he returned with a 68 at a venue which he fondly regards as his winning home ground.
The lanky Indian has won at the Classic Golf and Country Club as a junior and then as an amateur and a third time as a professional on the domestic Tour in 2015.
Korea’s Byungjun Kim, who is playing on a country exemption spot this week, signed for a 67 to take fourth place.
The Korean is eager to surmount a late charge and hopefully make his Asian Tour breakthrough as he has limited playing opportunities on the region’s premier Tour.
Did you know?
- Rory Hie’s best Asian Tour finish came in the 2017 TAKE Solutions Masters in Bangalore where he finished tied-fourth.
- Hie’s best finish in 2019 has been a tied-fifth at the OB Golf Invitational on the Asian Development Tour (ADT)
- After earning First Team All American honors (golf) while at Cerritos High in California in 2004 and 2005, Hie played college golf as a freshman and sophomore at University of Southern California 2006-2008 before turning pro in 2009.
- Rashid Khan won twice on the Asian Tour in 2014, the Chiangmai Golf Classic and the SAIL-SBI Open, on his way to a career best 11th on the Order of Merit with US$243,600 in earnings.
- Having lost his card in 2018, Khan is well on his way to regain his playing status. Currently 34th on the Order of Merit with US$50,334 in earnings, his 2019 season has included a third-placed finish at the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open, tied-10th at the Hero Indian Open and two wins on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).
- Between 2013-2017 Khan never finished lower than 42nd on the Order of Merit and has career earnings of almost US$860,000.
- Aphijit Chadha earned his Asian Tour card this season by finishing tied-35th at Qualifying School last December, the second time he has finished inside the top-40 since 2015.
- His best result in an Asian Tour event came in 2014 when he finished tied-eight in the SAIL-SBI Open at Delhi Golf Club.
- The 28-year-old from Chandigarh was one of India’s top amateurs in 2010 and 2011, and a member of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
- Chadha finished a career-high third in the Professional Golf Tour of India’s (PGTI) 2015 Ranking, having secured a win at the BILT Open along with three other top-10 finishes, including two top-three results in the season.
- In his four Asian Tour events played in 2019, Byungjun Kim’s best result has been a tied-33rd finish at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open.
- Kim has had eight career top-10 finishes on the Korean PGA Tour (KPGA), including a win at the Daishin Securities KPGA Championship in 2011.
Read what the leading contenders have to say after the third round of this week’s Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship.
Rory Hie (Ina) Third round 67 (-5) Total 199 (-17)
This week has been pretty enjoyable for me because I managed to put into practice what I’ve been talking to Lawrie (Indonesia’s Golf National coach) about. I was struggling when I was playing the Indonesia Open last year and then he talked to me about how to play golf again like I did when I was a junior golfer. So I basically treated this tournament like when I was a kid basically (laughing) I just played golf, I didn’t think about my golf swing, everything was pretty positive, I was looking at where I wanted to place the ball. I always had a positive attitude towards every putt, it doesn’t matter if it’s a par putt or birdie putt. Right now I’m just really happy with the kind of golf I have been playing. But it also just shows that I still have the game.
Rashid Khan (Ind) Third Round 66 (-6) Total 200 (-16)
Today’s round was pretty good. I had a slow start, hit the ball well and hit some good putts, but just didn’t roll in. My first birdie was on the 7th and then the 9th and 10th as well. I dropped a shot on the 11th, I was in-between and ended up with a bogey. But a good comeback on the next hole with a two-putt birdie on the 12th. Playing a decent round, hitting the fairways, finding the greens. The scrambling is perfect. You need all of those things to score five-under or six-under.
Today, I just had one bad hole on 11th. Otherwise, I kept hitting on the green giving myself a lot of chances. On the 11th, I just didn’t bring my three-Iron. Last two days also, I didn’t keep a three iron and instead of that out a gap wedge in my bag. I hit a four-Iron and I knew it was going to end up short. Today the conditions were fine, especially the weather. There wasn’t much sun today and I enjoyed it today. I’m not thinking about anything for tomorrow. We’ll see on the last nine holes.
Abhijit Chadha (Ind) Third Round 68 (-4) Total 201 (-15)
I did well today. I didn’t make too many mistakes today. Just got a little unlucky with a couple of my putts. I had three or four lip-outs which could have easily gone in. I started off really hot. I was three-under after four holes. I was doing the right things and kept hitting the fairways. Later on as well, I was doing the same things and hitting it close but just that the putts weren’t going in. Those putts could have easily gone in and my score would have completely different. I’m playing well and am very positive.
Byungjun Kim (Kor) Third round 67 (-5) Total 202 (-14)
I hope I can win this tournament as I’ve limited starts on the Asian Tour and a win tomorrow will definitely open many doors for me. The week as been going well for me and I hope I can play a patient game tomorrow and hopefully something good will happen for me.
Catch up on highlights from round 2 of the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship.
Catch up on highlights from day 1 of the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship.
A look ahead to this week’s Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship.
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
The Tournament
The Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship will be making its debut on the Asian Tour this week, offering a prize purse of US$300,000, of which US$54,000 will go to the winner.
The Course
Designed by the legendary Jack Nicklaus, the Classic Golf and Country Club will play as a par-72 and 7,114 yards from the championship tees.
The course opened for play in 1998 and though this is the first edition of this event, Classic Golf and Country Club has hosted three Tour events previously: the 2000 and 2001 Wills Indian Opens, and the 2009 SAIL Open.
Eight-time Asian Tour winner Jyoti Randhawa of India won in a play-off against South African Sammy Daniels in 2000, while Thai star Thongchai Jaidee claimed the 2001 edition by a single stroke over Ross Bain of Scotland.
The most notable event held at Classic was probably the 2009 SAIL Open. Chapchai Nirat of Thailand recorded the lowest ever score to par after 72 holes in a major golf tournament, and with a score of 32-under-par went on to win by 11 shots. This record still stands in the Guinness World Records today.
The Contenders
Since we have not been back to Classic Golf and Country Club since 2009, we are sort of in an uncharted territory when it comes to “horses for courses” picks.
Jyoti Randhawa is the only past winner of an Asian Tour event held at Classic in the field this week, and the list of players that has played in any of the three Asian Tour events held here is quite short.
So, this week’s picks will all be based mainly on current form, and I will start with the player who is maybe the hottest at the moment, first year pro Kosuke Hamamoto of Thailand.
A runner-up to Yikeun Chang last week in Taipei, and in doing so locking up his 2020 Asian Tour card, Hamamoto has been impressive all year.
With 14 top-20 finishes and seven top-10s on the Asian Tour, Asian Development Tour (ADT) and All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT) combined, he has shown remarkable consistency in performance.
Hamamoto made only one bogey in four rounds in Taipei last week and went bogey-free in his last 52 holes of the tournament. If he can emulate that feat at Classic this week, he could be a tough player to beat.
India’s Viraj Madappa won his maiden Asian Tour event just over a year ago in Bangalore, taking home the TAKE Solutions Masters trophy in his rookie Asian Tour season. Following up on a win in bigger events against stronger competition is never easy, but Madappa seems to have learned a lot from his experiences in the past year.
Excited to be playing in front of home crowds again, he is also full of confidence. After two solid events in a row in Taipei and Jakarta where he finished 25th and 22nd respectively, Madappa feels like he is playing well enough to win again.
Having the comfort of home crowds and past knowledge of the course could see him through to another top finish this week, and he would be a very popular player on top of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon.
Fellow Indian Chikkarangappa S. is definitely due for his first Asian Tour victory. “Chikka” has already won twice on the PGTI this season in his only two events played on that Tour, and also has two wins on the ADT, the 2014 and 2015 TAKE Solutions Masters.
With a tied-10th at the Hero Indian Open and a tied-20th finish at the Maybank Championship, having already secured his playing rights for the 2020 Asian Tour season should have him playing stress-free golf for the remainder of the year.
If he can get a sometimes-un-cooperative putter going, it would not be surprising to see Chikkarangappa lift the trophy this Sunday afternoon.
Perhaps the most experienced of the top-ranked players in the field this week is Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura. He finished second at this year’s Hero Indian Open and is currently ranked fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. He is also 50th on European Tour’s Race to Dubai Rankings and 183rd in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), impressive numbers.
Kawamura will be looking at this week as a way to secure a spot in the WGC-HSBC Champions field, and while he possibly needs some money, he definitely needs a start in a full-field event in order to qualify through the Asian Tour.
The top-four eligible players on the Order of Merit after next month’s Mercuries Taiwan Masters will qualify for WSG-HSBC Champions, and although Kawamura is fifth, he is currently the last player in since Yosuke Asaji will not be eligible through Asian Tour due to insufficient events played.
Find out what the Yeangder TPC winner Yikeun Chang had in the bag last week.
Here is what the Yeangder TPC winner Yikeun Chang had in the bag last week:
Driver: TaylorMade M5 10.5* Shaft: Mitsubishi-Chemical Fubuki J 70 X
Fairway1: TaylorMade M6 15* Shaft: Mitsubishi-Chemical Diamana DF 70 TX
Hb: Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 18* Shaft: FST KBS Proto 95 S+
Ut: Callaway Apex UT 24* Shaft: TrueTemper Dynamic Gold
Irons: TaylorMade P 760 (5-6) P 750 (7-8) P 730 (9-P) Shaft: TrueTemper Dynamic Gold X100
Wedge1: TaylorMade Milled Grind 50*
Wedge2: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 56* S-Grind
Wedge3: Titleist Vokey Design PROTO 59* J-Grind
Putter: Odyssey Stroke Lab Tuttle
Ball: Titleist Pro V1 x (2017)
Shoe: FootJoy
Cap: Shinhan Bank
Bag: TaylorMade
Glove: Titleist
Note: No 3-4 Iron
Catch up on highlights from day 3 of the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship.
Catch up on highlights from day 2 of the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship.
A look ahead to this week’s Yeangder TPC at Linkou International Golf and Country Club.
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
The Tournament
The US$500,000 Yeangder TPC has been a fixture on the Asian Tour since 2010, with last year’s trophy won by American John Catlin on a score of 15-under-par 273.
It was a close battle on the back nine on Sunday between Catlin and compatriot Sihwan Kim, but the 16th hole turned out to be the deciding factor. Kim playing in the penultimate group would make a bogey five, while Catlin in the final threesome of the day birdied the hole to take a two-shot lead he never relinquished.
The victory gave Catlin his third win of the year in his breakthrough season and he would go on to finish the year in sixth place on the Order of Merit with US$403,666 in earnings.
The Yeangder group that sponsors the event is a big supporter of professional golf in Chinese Taipei, also supporting a number of local touring pros who are playing on the Asian Tour and Asian Development Tour (ADT). They include Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-tang, Hung Chien-yao and Lu Wei-chih.
The Course
The Linkou International Golf and Country Club, located outside of Taipei, is a tree-lined par 72 layout playing to 7,108 yards from the championship tees. It is a regular host venue of the Yeangder TPC and has hosted all nine previous editions.
Last year’s winning score of 15-under-par is the lowest in the event’s history, while 12-under was enough to claim the top prize in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
The weather could be a big factor this week with rain, thunderstorms and windy conditions in the forecast. The tournament has been shortened to 54-holes due to weather on three occasions in the past, in 2010, 2012 and 2015.
The Contenders
The winner in Jakarta last week, Miguel Carballo of Argentina showed remarkable consistency in his game at Pondok Indah as he made only one bogey in 72 holes and played his last 49 holes with no score worse than par.
Posting a breakthrough Asian Tour win should have him full of confidence, and if he can keep bogeys off the card again this week, he should be near the top of the leaderboard come Sunday.
Although not having the best season so far with a tied-eight at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup as his best finish, local star Lu Wei-chih is always a threat when playing in Taipei.
A winner of the Yeangder TPC in 2011, Lu also finished fifth here last year and third in 2017. The four-time Asian Tour winner have won all his titles on home soil, and in addition the previous win in this event, he also won the Mercuries Taiwan Masters in 2005, 2011 and 2016.
One of the players sponsored by the Yeangder Group who would very much like to keep the trophy “in the family” is Hung Chien-yao. A one-time ADT winner at the Chang Hwa Open in 2013, he came very close to winning in Sarawak three weeks ago missing the play-off by only two shots.
Hung was the co-leader with Catlin after three rounds at Linkou last year, and after a final round of 68 settled for a solo-third place. He was the best local finisher in the event last year.
Thai star Prom Meesawat won the second of his two Asian Tour titles here in 2014 and has shown good form in 2019. Starting his season with a tied-fifth at the SMBC Singapore Open which qualified him for The Open, he has followed it up with two wins at the Singha Thailand Masters on the All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT) and the Butra Heidelberg Cement Brunei Championships on the ADT.
Prom also has two Asian Tour top-10s in Korea this season, coming at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open and the Kolon Korea Open, and should be considered a threat for a win this week.
A winner in his first Asian Tour event, the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open, after graduating Q-School by finishing tied-13th, Thai rookie Sadom Kaewkanjana has continued to play solid golf.
Coming off a tied-16th and tied-11th in his last two events, the Sarawak Championship and the Bank BRI Indonesia Open, he looks set to continue his good form. A top finish for Sadom would not be a surprise this week in Taipei.
Catch up on highlights from round 4 of the Bank BRI Indonesia Open.
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