OWGR Watch – Week of the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational
Sentosa, Singapore, July 23: With 16 Asian Tour members teeing it up in The 148th Open last week and five of them making the cut, the biggest gain on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) belongs to Sanghyun Park of Korea, the 2018 Rookie of the Year.
Park put on a solid performance all week at Royal Portrush to finish the week tied for 16th place. A final round of two-over-par 73 in difficult conditions meant he missed out on a top-10 finish by only two shots but it was stilla very creditable result in what was only his second Open start.
Park gains 18 places in the rankings and sits in 123rd position on this week’s OWGR list.
Currently the highest ranked Asian Tour member on the OWGR, Justin Harding of South Africa started his Open week in great fashion, and was sitting in tied-fifth place on six-under-par after rounds of 71 and 65.
The unforgiving Dunluce Links, however, took its toll on Harding on the weekend and after posting 74 and 76 in the final two rounds he finished the championship tied for 41st place. The two-time Asian Tour winner loses one place on the OWGR and drops outside the top-50 to 51st position.
Order of Merit leader Jazz Janewattananond did not have the Open experience he was hoping for, missing the cut by four shots after rounds of 74 and 73 on the challenging links layout.
The SMBC Singapore Open and Kolon Korea Open champion still maintains his ranking of 53rd on the OWGR, just shy of his career high.
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat finished the championship in style with a four-under-par 67 on Sunday for a tied-32nd place, one-over-par for the week and his best Open result so far.
Nonetheless, he still loses ground on the OWGR and drops two spots to 54th place, one behind his countryman Jazz.
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
The oldest of the four Majors at 160 years old, The Open was established in 1860 and will mark its 148th edition this year.
With Northern Ireland hosting the championship this year, it will be only the second time in the history of the event that it is held outside of Scotland and England. The lone previous exception was in 1951 when it was played on the same course.
Prize money for 2019 will be $10.75 million, an increase of $250,000 from last year.
No Asian player has yet to win The Open in its long and illustrious history. The closest to do so was legendary Chinese Taipeiplayer Lu Liang-huan, also known as “Mr. Lu”, finishing solo second at Royal Birkdale in 1971, only one shot behind Lee Trevino. Mr. Lu would also go on to record a tied-fifth place finish three years later in 1974 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
The Japanese duo of Isao Aoki and Shigeki Maruyama are the only other Asian players with multiple top-10’s in the championship, with Aoki recording three (1978, 1979 and 1988) and Maruyama two (1997 and 2002). The best finish between them being Maruyama’s tied-fifth in 2002 at Muirfield.
The Course
Royal Portrush Golf Club (Dunluce Links Course), Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Par-71, 7,344 yards.
A classic and highly rated links-course originally designed by Harry Colt, Royal Portrush Golf Club was established in 1888 as The Country Club and assumed its current name in 1895 under the royal patronage of the Prince of Wales.
It has hosted The Open only once previously in 1951, with Englishman Max Faulkner lifting the Claret Jug and collecting a winner’s check of £300.
Other notable events held at Royal Portrush include The Senior Open Championship 1995-1999 and 2004, The Amateur Championship in 1960, 1993 and 2014, the Irish Open in 1930, 1937, 1947 and 2012, and the Arnold Palmer Cup in 2012.
A number of this week’s players would be familiar with the course from the 2012 Irish Open but also, in the case of Justin Thomas and Thomas Pieters, the 2012 Arnold Palmer Cup.
However, in order to accommodate an event the size of The Open, there have been changes made to the course. The original 17th and 18th holes have been taken out to make room for the spectator village, with two new holes built on land borrowed from the Valley Links course (the club’s other course) inserted on the front nine and playing as the seventh and eighth.
The famous par-three “Calamity Corner”, playing 230-yards and uphill, is now the 16th, and the original 15th and 16th are now serving as closing holes. Perhaps determining the Champion Golfer of the Year on Sunday afternoon.
The Favorites
Rory McIlroy
Playing a Major on home soil for the first time, the Northern Irishman would definitely qualify as the local favorite this week, but there are more reasons than that why he might be considered the man to beat this week:
In 2019 he has posted 11 top-10 finishes in 13 events, including two wins at the Players Championship and the RBC Canadian Open. A great season by any standards and arguably the most consistently high-performing player this year. The only thing missing this year is a Major title.
He probably knows this course better than anyone in the field not named Graeme McDowell and holds the course-record of 61, posted in 2005 when he was 16-year-old.
For a player who once claimed his game was ill-suited for links-golf conditions, McIlroy’s average Open finish position since 2014 is an even 3.0, including a wire-to-wire win at Royal Liverpool in 2014.
Brooks Koepka
The world number one has had an incredible run in Majors since the 2016 PGA Championship, racking up four victories and two runners-up in his last 11 starts. He successfully defended the PGA Championship in May at Bethpage Black and was close to repeating the feat at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in June when he finished second to Gary Woodland.
In the three Majors played so far in 2019, Koepka has finished tied-second at the Masters, first in the PGA Championship and second at the U.S. Open.
Although The Open has not been his best Major so far, he did finish tied-sixth at Royal Birkdale in 2017.
The Asian Tour Players
This year will see a big contingent of Asian Tour players in The Open, with a total of 16 members qualifying for Royal Portrush and representing seven different nations: Thailand (four), Japan (three), Korea (three), USA (two), South Africa (two), India (one) and Australia (one).
These players have a total of 22 previous appearances at The Open between them with eight cuts made, the best result among them was Yuta Ikeda’s tied-38th place at Royal St. Georges in 2011.
Teeing it up on Thursday on the Dunluce Links will be (in OWGR ranking order):
Justin Harding (RSA) OWGR Ranking: 50th
The winner of five worldwide events since the start of the 2018 season, including the 2018 Bank BRI Indonesia Open and Royal Cup on the Asian Tour and the 2019 Qatar Masters on the European Tour, Harding is currently the highest ranked Asian Tour member on the OWGR at number 48.
Having already tasted Major Championship success at this year’s Masters where he finished tied-12th and earned an invitation back next year, he will be hoping to improve on his lone appearance at The Open. A missed cut at Muirfield in 2013.
Harding is currently leading European Tour in Scrambling percentage with 67.0%, a skill that is sure to come in handy on this week’s difficult course.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) OWGR Ranking: 52nd
The 2013 Asian Tour Order of Merit winner has played The Open on five occasions in the past, but the only time he has made it to the weekend was in 2018 when he finished in tied-75th place.
Still a bit bothered by an injury he sustained at the Masters in April, Kiradech will be looking to return to the form he showed at the WGC-Mexico Championship in February where he finished tied-third, and the AT&T Byron Nelson in May where he posted a tied-fifth.
Ranked 69th in the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour he has comfortably retained his card in the U.S. with just over $1.5 million in earnings.
Kiradech does have the experience of being a Major championship contender. In the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills he was within striking distance of the leading quartet of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau and Daniel Berger after three rounds.
Teeing off on Sunday afternoon in tied-seventh place and only three shots behind the joint-leaders, a final round of three-over-par 73 meant he finished in 15th place for his best performance in a Major to date.
Jazz Janewattananond (THA) OWGR Ranking 53rd
Leading the 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit with $738,000 and two victories this season, Jazz has been playing superb golf since late last year.
Opening his season with a win at the SMBC Singapore Open, which as part of the Open Qualifying Series (OQS) qualified him for this week, he has followed it up with seven other top-five and another win at the recent Kolon Korea Open.
At this year’s PGA Championship Jazz was in tied-second place after three rounds. Although he slipped to a tied-14th in the brutal conditions on Sunday, he would have gained invaluable experience from playing in the penultimate group on a Major Championship Sunday.
He is also the current leader of the Japan Tour (JGTO) Money Ranking and sits in 53rd place on the OWGR, one spot shy of his career high.
Jazz’s only appearance at The Open came in 2018 at Carnoustie where he missed the halfway cut after rounds of 74 and 76.
Kurt Kitayama (USA) OWGR Ranking: 112th
After a solid start to his rookie Asian Tour season, Kitayama broke through with a win at the European Tour co-sanctioned AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in late 2018.
He followed it up with a victory in the Oman Open on the European Tour early this year and is currently in 19th place on the Race to Dubai ranking and 112th on the OWGR.
Known as one of the longest hitters on tour, Kitayama is leading the Driving Distance statistic on the Asian tour with an average of 319.25 yards off the tee.
This will be his first appearance in an Open Championship, his second Major following a tied-64th place in this year’s PGA Championship.
Shaun Norris (RSA) OWGR Ranking: 123rd
After making the cuts at the last two Opens Norris has shown that he can handle links golf conditions, and the South African is coming into this week in good form with a tied-fourth at the Japan PGA Championship two weeks ago.
Winning twice on the Asian Tour at the 2016 LeoPalace21 Myanmar Open and the 2015 Yeangder TPC, he has since then divided his time between Asia and Japan.
In 2018 he finished runner-up on the 2018 Japan Tour Money Ranking after winning the Heiwa PGM Championship, and is currently ranked 123rd on the OWGR.
Yuta Ikeda (JPN) OWGR Ranking: 127th
The most prolific Open participant among the Asian Tour players, with seven starts to his name and a tied-38th as his best finish.
Twice a winner on the Asian Tour, the 2018 Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup and the 2017 Panasonic Open, Ikeda once reached as high as 33rd on the OWGR but is currently ranked in 127th place.
Having recently won the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open on the Japan Tour in early June, Ikeda could be primed for a return to the top echelon of professional golf at Royal Portrush.
David Lipsky (USA) OWGR Ranking: 130th
This will be the 2014 Asian Tour Order of Merit winner’s third Open Championship after playing previously in 2015 and 2017, with a tied-58th as the best mark in his first attempt.
Lipsky has been playing solid golf since his win at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in late 2018, with a tied-10th at the WGC-Mexico Championship and top-5’s at the Volvo China Open and Trophee Hassan II as his best results this year.
Currently ranked 10th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and 130th on the OWGR.
Sanghyun Park (KOR) OWGR Ranking: 141st
Last year’s Asian Tour Rookie of the Year after winning the GS Caltex Maekyung Open and Shinhan Donghae Open in his home country, Park also made his Open debut at Carnoustie in 2018.
He has spent the last two weeks at the Irish and Scottish Opens to get acclimatized to links-golf and should be well prepared for the conditions this week.
Park has three top-5’s on the Asian and Japan Tours as his best finishes year-to-date and sits in 141st place on the OWGR.
Jake McLeod (AUS) OWGR Ranking: 194th
After winning the New South Wales Open late last year, McLeod followed it up with a third-place finish in the Emirates Australian Open the following week which qualified him for this year’s Open as part of the OQS.
This will be the 24-year-old Australians first Open and Major Championship, and he will be looking at this week as an opportunity to turn his season around after a rough stretch of events.
McLeod is after last week’s events ranked 194th on the OWGR.
Mikumu Horikawa (JPN) OWGR Ranking: 195th
Having recently won the JGT Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills, he qualified for this week by being the leading money winner not otherwise exempt on the 2019 Japan Tour.
Horikawa will be playing in his first Open and second consecutive Major after making his Major Championship debut at last month’s U.S. Open.
Currently 195th on the OWGR.
Shubhankar Sharma (IND) OWGR Ranking: 196th
The reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit Champion and winner of the 2018 Maybank Championship and 2017 Joburg Open is not short of Major experience.
Having played in all four Majors in 2018, he will be trying to improve on his tied-51st finish at Carnoustie last year and get his 2019 campaign back on the right track.
Sharma was last year ranked as high as 64th on the OWGR, but after struggling a bit with his game in 2019 now sits in 196th place.
Prom Meesawat (THA) OWGR Ranking: 273rd
Making his first return to The Open since Royal St. George’s in 2011, Prom should be coming into this week confident after a top-10 in his last event, the Kolon Korea Open.
Having played consistently well in 2019, he has also posted top-10 finishes at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open and SMBC Singapore Open, plus a victory each on the Asian Development Tour and All Thailand Tour.
This solid play in 2019 has improved Prom’s OWGR ranking from 486th at the end of 2018 to 273rd as of this week.
Gunn Charoenkul (THA) OWGR Ranking: 278th
Playing some very good golf this year after re-gaining his card at the Asian Tour Q-School last December, Gunn has recorded 11 top-10’s in 16 events across five different tours.
His equal best finish being a tied-third at the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open, which qualified him for his first Open and Major championship.
Currently ranked 13th on the Japan Tour Money Ranking after a string of good performances, Gunn has gained 361 positions on the OWGR in 2019 and currently sits in 278th place.
Yosuke Asaji (JPN) OWGR Ranking: 327th
This will be Asaji’s maiden Open appearance which he qualified for by winning the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup as a Monday qualifier.
The Asian Tour rookie sits in 4th place on the Order of Merit and in 327th place on this week’s OWGR.
Dongkyu Jang (KOR) OWGR Ranking: 333rd
Last played in The Open at Royal Liverpool in 2014 and will be hoping to make it to the weekend this time around.
Qualified for the Championship by finishing tied-fourth at the Kolon Korea Open, his second top-10 on the Asian Tour in 2019 following a tied-sixth at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup.
Currently ranked 13th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and has comfortably retained his card for next year with over $100,000 in earnings. Ranked 333rd currently on the OWGR.
Doyeob Mun (KOR) OWGR Ranking: 407th
Early this year Mun got off to a fast start in his second Asian Tour season by posting a tied-fifth at the SMBC Singapore Open, earning a ticket to his first Open Championship in the process.
The 2018 Korean PGA Championship winner is currently ranked in 32nd place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and 407th on the OWGR.
With the year’s fourth and final Major set to tee off at Royal Portrush this week, the Asian Tour revisits some of the past glories by luminaries who had put Asia on the world golfing map at the world’s oldest Major.
No Asian player has yet won The Open in its long and illustrious history. Legendary Chinese Taipei player Lu Liang-huan, also known as “Mr. Lu” was the closest to have done so when he finished solo second at Royal Birkdale in 1971, only one shot behind winner Lee Trevino. Mr. Lu would also go on to record a tied-fifth place finish three years later at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 1974.
In 1976, Norio Suzuki would finish tied-10th at Royal Birkdale and although he won 16 tournaments on the Japan Tour in the 70’s and 80’s, this would be his best finish in a Major.
Big hitter Masahsi “Jumbo” Ozaki is a name that most golfers would be familiar with, and perhaps one of the game’s most storied players in the 80’s and 90’s.
Ranked inside the top-10 on the OWGR for nearly 200 weeks during that time, Ozaki won 94 events in Japan and the Japan Tour Money Ranking a record 12 times.
Ozaki’s best Open appearance was in 1979 when he finished tied-10th at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, and he also posted a tied-sixth in the 1989 U.S. Open and a tied-eight in the 1973 Masters Tournament as his best Majors.
Masahiro “Massy” Kuramoto was also a famous player during the same time as Ozaki, recording 30 tournament wins on the Japan Tour.
He also had a great Open in 1982 at Royal Troon, finishing tied-fourth only two shots behind the winner Tom Watson.
Perhaps none on the Japanese stars had a better chance to win The Open than Tsuneyuki “Tommy” Nakajima at Royal St. George’s back in 1986.
Trailing the leader Greg Norman by four shots after two rounds and only one after three, Nakajima’s final round of seven-over-par 77 dropped him back into a tied-eight place at the end of the championship.
Except for Lu, the Japanese duo of Isao Aoki and Shigeki Maruyama are the only other Asian players with multiple top-10’s in the championship, with Aoki recording three (1978, 1979 and 1988) and Maruyama two (1997 and 2002).
Aoki’s best chance to win an Open Championship came in 1978 at The Old Course, when he held the lead through the first two rounds and was one shot back with 18 holes to play.
A final round of one-over-par 73 meant Aoki would finish in tied-seventh, four strokes behind the winner Jack Nicklaus.
In 2002 at Muirfield, Maruyama, known as “the smiling assassin”, also held the lead after the first two days.
A four-over-par 75 in the third round left him three behind the leader Ernie Els, and although he fired a 68 in the final round, it was one too many to join the four-man play-off. The tied-fifth finish would be the best Open in Maruyama’s career.
Japan’s Hideto Tanihara made a run for the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool in 2006, with a third round of six-under-par 66 to sit three shots behind the leader Tiger Woods.
After a final round of 71 and an unstoppable Woods winning the event, Tanihara finished in a creditable tied-fifth place.
Korean players are on the leaderboards across all tours today, but it’s no secret that K.J. Choi is the one that paved the way among the men.
The winner of more than 20 events worldwide and eight on the PGA TOUR, including the 2011 Players Championship, he is Korea’s most successful male golfer in history.
At Carnoustie in 2007, Choi recorded his best finish in The Open by finishing tied-eighth, a position he has bettered in the other three Majors.
Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama has featured on the leaderboard during several recent Opens, but only once managed to clinch a top-10 after four rounds.
Having just turned professional in April of 2013, Matsuyama turned in his best Open performance to date by finishing tied-sixth at Muirfield, a month after also posting a top-10 in the U.S. Open in his rookie season.
China’s number one Haotong Li stormed home with a closing seven-under-par 63 at Royal Birkdale in 2017.
Starting the final round in tied-29th place, shooting the low round of the day on Sunday meant Li finished in solo-third place six shots behind winner Jordan Spieth, and vaulted him into the top-100 on the OWGR for the first time in his career.
Ends.
By Calvin Koh, Head of Press Operations and Media Partnerships
It’s always refreshing to talk to the next generation of talented golfers.
Unlike some of your mega superstars, often hidden behind security, agents and utter practised answers, they are often ready to offer you an uncensored account of their lives, goals and ambitions.
Australia’s Zach Murray is one of them.
The towering Aussie is part of a new generation of Tour rookies who are taking the Asian Tour by storm.
He signaled his arrival on the biggest stage by becoming the third fastest Qualifying School graduate to win on the Asian Tour with his victory at the New Zealand Open in March.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Murray ‘just wants to keep playing well and capitalise on that win.’
It’s an honest answer that speaks volume of his career ambitions.
“Obviously that win in New Zealand has changed my life and I’m trying to take it all in now,” said the Australian.
Not to be outdone in the tale of rookies, young Thai talent Sadom Kaewkanjana surpassed Murray’s earlier feat by becoming the record fastest Qualifying School graduate to win on the Asian Tour in his very first start at the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open.
Just four months after coming through Asian Tour Qualifying School with a tied-13th result, the 20-year-old Thai claimed his maiden Tour victory in his very first start at the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open.
He wears a smile all the time and his dedication to his craft makes him admirable.
He wants to ‘work even harder and get better all the time’.
The young Thai speaks with the innocence that comes with his age but competes with the confidence of a hardened Tour veteran.
It has been an unbelievable journey for Sadom, who has now made history by becoming the fastest Qualifying School graduate to win on the Asian Tour.
“Winning in my first start on the Asian Tour, I feel very happy. I will take a lot of positives from this week and this win will give me a lot of confidence in my game. It’s been an unbelievable journey since turning professional last December,” said Sadom after his win in Dhaka.
Despite his success, Sadom believes his best is yet to come as he sets his sights on fulfilling his full potential in the big leagues.
“My initial goal was just to keep my Asian Tour card for the next season but now I have won on both the Asian Development Tour and the Asian Tour.
“I am really happy, I didn’t expect to do so well and I will have to work harder to get even better after this,” said the Thai.
So watch this space as Murray and Sadom could well strike again very soon.
Ends.
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