Here is what the Sarawak Championship winner Andrew Dodt had in the bag last week:
Driver: Titleist TS3 9.5* Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6 X
Fairway: Titleist TS2 15* Shaft: Fujikura Speeder Motore
Irons: Titleist T100 (4-9) Shaft: TrueTemper Dynamic Gold X100
Wedge1: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 46* F-Grind
Wedge2: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 52* F-Grind
Wedge3: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 56* S-Grind
Wedge4: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 60* L-Grind
Putter: Titleist Scotty Cameron Futura X
Ball: Titleist Pro V1 x (2019)
Shoes: FootJoy
Glove: FootJoy
Cap: Titleist
Bag: Titleist
Note: 3 Iron Titleist T-MB 718 with FST KBS Proto
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
The Tournament
The US$ 300,000 Sarawak Championship is a relatively new event on the Asian Tour schedule, with the first edition of the tournament played in July last year and providing an exciting finish.
With Thailand’s Jazz Janewattanond playing in the penultimate group having posted a 21-under-par 267 to grab the clubhouse lead, it all came down to the last group of John Catlin, Danthai Boonma and Paul Peterson to decide an outright winner or possible play-off. Catlin and Danthai were tied for the lead with Jazz playing the 18th, and Peterson one shot behind.
Danthai could only manage a par on the last to stay in a tie for the lead, and Peterson would join the leaders after converting a birdie effort from 15 feet.
Catlin was the last man with a chance to break the four-way tie for the lead, and made a clutch birdie putt from 12 feet to claim the trophy and winner’s check of US$54,000.
The Course
The Arnold Palmer Designed Damai Golf and Country Club in Kuching, Malaysia is a par-72 course playing to 6,979 yards from the tournament tees.
If the conditions are anything like last year, players should be ready for a low-scoring week. The weekend cut was set at three-under-par last year and the fourth-round average score for players who finished in the top-10 was 66.3, or 5.7-under-par.
Only one player in this group failed to shoot in the 60s on Sunday, and his score was a two-under-par 70.
The Top Contenders
While nine players from the top-20 on the Order of Merit are in the field in Kuching, it is noteworthy that this list includes the two players who have earned a combined US$ 1,265,000 so far this year.
Order of Merit leader Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand with just over US$ 738,000 in earnings has already won two titles this year- the SMBC Singapore Open and Kolon Korea Open, and is surely looking to extend his lead in the Order of Merit race.
As an added motivation for Jazz, the cut-off date for the Presidents Cup automatic selections is coming up this Sunday. He is currently 10th in the standings, 11.24 points behind C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei in eighth place , and will need a win this week to have a chance to play his way into the top-eight to qualify on points.
Looking at the numbers behind Jazz’s stellar play this year, it’s no mystery why he has amassed 10 top-five finishes across all tours including the two wins.
If we filter the 2019 Asian Tour stats for players with eight tournament rounds or more, Jazz would be ranked first in Scoring Average (68.76) and Bogey Avoidance (1.9), second in Greens in Regulation (76.05%) and Scrambling (70.40%), third in Birdies per Round (4.72) and eight in Total Driving (Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy combined).
Add a combined All-Round category (Total Driving, GIR, Putts/GIR and Scrambling) and he would rank first in that one as well.
This year’s Maybank Championship winner Scott Hend of Australia is one of the most prolific winners on the Asian Tour, with 10 titles to his name. Currently in second place on the Order of Merit with US$527,530, Hend is also in second place in Career Earnings with US$5,061,754 in winnings during his 13 years in Asia.
Like the player he is chasing above, Hend also has some very solid stats in his 2019 campaign. Known for a long time as one of the longest drivers on Tour, he would, using the same criteria as above, be ranked third in Driving Distance (305.47 yards), fifth in Total Driving, sixth in Birdies per Round (4.53) and fifth in a combined All-Round category.
Coming off four missed cuts in a row in Asia and Europe, 2016 Order of Merit winner Hend will be keen to break this trend and make a dent in Jazz’s US$210,000 lead on the Order of Merit.
The Challengers
Using the filtering criteria mentioned earlier, Khan would currently be seventh in GIR (71.5%) and first in Scrambling (73.2%).
In his only two Asian Tour starts this season, he has a third-place finish in the Bangabandhu Cup and a tied-10th in the Hero Indian Open. He is also is leading the Order of Merit on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) with two victories and five other top-10s in his eight events played this season.
It would not be surprising to see Khan return to fully exempt playing status on the Asian Tour next year, and a top finish this week would go a long way towards this goal.
Fellow Indian Ajeetesh Sandhu came very close to winning his second Asian Tour title in Bangladesh in early April, when he finished runner-up a single shot behind rookie winner Sadom Kaewkanjana from Thailand.
Sandhu’s stats have also been good across the board this year, he’s as of this week ranked 16th in GIR (68.4%) and 13th in Scrambling (62.2%), while he sits in 10th place in the All-Round category.
Currently in 20th place on the Order of Merit with just short of US$71,000, Sandhu’s playing rights for next season are nearly secured. A high finish this week could make that a certainty.
He has already proven he can play well on this course, finishing tied-11th last year on a score of 15-under-par, and could be a man to bet on for his second career Asian Tour win this week.
Thailand’s Prom Meesawat is enjoying a good season so far with three top-10s on the Asian Tour, with one of them, the SMBC Singapore Open, also earning him his second appearance in The Open Championship last month.
He has also won the Butra Heidelberg Cement Brunei Championships on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) and the 20th Singha Thailand Masters on the All Thailand Golf Tour in 2019.
Prom has not won on the Asian Tour since the 2014 Yeangder TPC, but a return to the winner’s circle could be imminent.
Last but not least, a player that is very much due for his first Asian Tour title is Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe. One of the most consistent high-performers in 2018, a year when nine top-10 finishes in Asia saw him finish fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Vincent has so far this season posted a fourth place in the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth as his best result, along with a tied-sixth in the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup and tied-10th in the Kolon Korea Open, and is currently ranked ninth on the Order of Merit with almost US$160,000.
In June he also claimed his first professional victory in the Landic Challenge 7 on the AbemaTV Tour in Japan.
Vincent should have good memories from last year’s Sarawak Championship when he finished tied-seventh after a final round eight-under-par 64, and could be primed for a breakthrough Asian Tour win in Kuching after six weeks away from tournament golf.
Sentosa, Singapore, August 6: Last week’s Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour was the last event of the regular season before the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and Asian Tour was represented by Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Anirban Lahiri and Monday qualifier Paul Peterson.
The event had big implications for Lahiri. Heading into the week in 178th place on the FedEx Cup Standings, he would have needed a tied-second finish at Wyndham to get inside the top-125 and keep his card, or a tied-fourth for top-150 and conditional status for next season.
With a score of eight-under-par 272 the 2015 Order of Merit champion finished tied-53rd, and will now have to play the three events on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals starting next week in order to regain his PGA Tour playing rights.
Thailand’s Kiradech has already secured his card for next year by being well inside the top 125 and will be playing in the first play-off event this week- The Northern Trust in New Jersey. Kiradech is currently ranked 76th in the standings and will have get inside the top-70 in order to advance to the BMW Championship, the next event in the play-offs. He’s as of this week 44 points behind Matthew Wolff in 70th place.
At last week’s Wyndham Championship Kiradech got off to a hot start with a six-under-par 64 in the first round, but the following rounds of 72, 69, and 68 meant he would finish the week in tied-60th place on the low-scoring course.
On the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) Kiradech lost five spots and is now 59th on the updated list, while in the Presidents Cup Standings he has fallen two spots to 20th with two weeks to go before the cut-off date for the automatic selections which is due on August 18th.
The two other Asian Tour members in the top 100 on the OWGR, Justin Harding and Jazz Janewattananond, did not play any event last week and dropped one position each to 52nd and 54th respectively.
Both are also in the running for a place on captain Ernie Els’s squad for the Presidents Cup in December.
Jazz is currently ranked ninth, one spot outside an automatic selection, and has one event remaining, the Sarawak Championship August 15-18. He will likely need at least a solo-second in Sarawak to avoid relying on a captain’s pick.
Harding has a little more work to do as he’s 11th in the standings and will need to make up 12 points on the currently eight-placed C.T. Pan from Chinese Taipei. For an automatic selection he will need a win at his next event, likely the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals series August 15-18.
The Asian Tour has welcomed many worthy champions into the winner’s circle. While many of them are still making their mark on the Tour and beyond, some have decided to put away their clubs but have continued to leave an impression on us.
In our first instalment of our ‘Where are they now?’ series, we spoke to Kyi Hla Han, who was the Asian Tour’s Executive Chairman for several years and is best remembered for winning the Volvo China Open and Asian Tour Order of Merit in 1999.
After ruling the fairways for more than two decades, Han is still very much passionate about the sport which brought him much success and even introduced him to his wife in Hong Kong.
So tell us, how did you get started in professional golf and the Asian Tour back in 1994-95?
KHH: I turned professional in December 1980 at the World Cup in Bogota, Colombia. I was 19 and still in University but wanted to turn professional badly then. I started playing the old Asian Circuit in 1981 which was basically about nine to 10 National Opens over a 10-week period run by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC). There were also a few professional events in South East Asia which would be the equivalent to what we have with the Asian Development Tour now. I won over a dozen of them, like the Malaysian and Thai PGA Championships and the Malaysian Masters.
Since the old Asian Circuit was much smaller than the Asian Tour is now, what did you do when there were no events in Asia?
KHH: I wanted to play more events, so I went to play in Australia, Europe and Japan because I felt like there were not enough tournaments in Asia. I met my wife Marlene in Hong Kong where she was living at the time, and in 1993, she was approached by a sports marketing company that wanted to start up a Tour with about 20 events in Asia. I was asked to help structure the Tour from a player’s point of view, and in 1995 the Asian PGA Tour was launched with me and Dom Boulet as its founding members. At the time I still had a card on the Japan Golf Tour (JGTO), so I didn’t really play the Asian PGA Tour until 1996.
Except for winning some of the smaller events which you mentioned earlier, you must have won bigger ones as well?
KHH: Yeah, I won the Singapore Open in 1994 which was an event on the Australian Tour then, and also the 1997 Rolex Singapore Masters. But the highlight of my career was definitely in 1999 when I won the Asian Tour Order of Merit along with the Volvo China Open.

How many years did you play on the Asian Tour before you retired and transitioned into management?
KHH: After I won the Order of Merit in 1999 I was trying to raise my game but I felt like I wasn’t improving enough to get to the next level, to play on the European Tour or PGA TOUR. In 2003, there was talk among players who wanted us to form our own Association, so we split from the Asian PGA and founded the Asian Tour in 2004. Me and five other players were the founding members, and I served as the Chairman of the Tour. I was pretty involved even though I was playing. My game was still ok and I was younger so I thought I could do both. But by 2006 I had a lot of injuries, so I stopped playing and took over as Executive Chairman later that year. Being on the management side is totally different to being a player. But it was a good experience as I got to understand both sides of the sport.
How do you feel now when you see all these young Asian players coming up and venturing out in the world, instead of in the past where most players wanted to play only in Asia?
KHH: I think it’s fantastic and it’s always been my goal to see our players to be on the world stage. It’s great to see young guys like Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Jazz Janewattananond, Anirban Lahiri and Gavin Green coming up as it was always the intention for the Tour to create a pathway for players to become world class champions.
After 25 years of playing and 12 years in Asian Tour’s management, you are still serving on the Asian Tour’s Board of Directors. But outside of the Tour, what are you up to these days?
KHH: I’ve always loved golf course design and it was something I wanted to pursue. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to design a course in Dalat, Vietnam (The Dalat at 1200 Country Club), and to be involved as a signature designer in a Schmidt-Curley Golf Design project near Mandalay, Myanmar. I have a partner in my golf design business, Sam Sakocius who has a vast knowledge of course construction. I was also approached by some people to start the Junior Golf Tour of Asia (JGTA) that is associated with the American Junior Golf Assiciation (AJGA), which basically helps our junior players get into colleges in the U.S. on golf scholarships. The Tour is for boys and girls aged between 12 to 18 years old. We have finished two seasons of the JGTA and so far seven of our players have received scholarships to Division I colleges in the U.S.
We know that you are also involved in music and playing a lot of guitar?
KHH: Yes, I’ve always been into classic rock from the 60’s and 70’s and played some guitar in my teenage years, I’ve always loved music. When I started living in Singapore, I was always going out to the bars and restaurants to listen to music. It was there where I met up with two guys that played that kind of music. I became good friends with one of them who is now one of the top guitarists in Singapore- Robyn Anthony. I get involved in gigs with them at clubs, bars and private homes and it’s really fun. Playing music is very relaxing and it’s good to have a new challenge.

Being a top player and out on tour for a long time, is there anything you miss about the Tour?
KHH: The comradery, and how you remain friends with fellow players even for a long time away from the Tour. I do miss all my friends out on tour. I have a lot of good stories and memories from the Tour, but I think the players are probably a little more serious now than we used to be. When we were out there were a lot of players with their own character, but they all played well.
So, what’s a good story?
KHH: I just met up with Danny Mjiovic from Canada in Toronto a few weeks ago, he used to play the Tour about 20 years ago and he was actually the guy that introduced me to my wife Marlene! One of the most memorable moments on Tour was back in 2000. After I won the 1999 Order of Merit, they paired me with Tiger Woods in the Johnnie Walker Classic after he had just won four Majors in a row. That was a real highlight.
Any other hobbies or interests taking up your time nowadays?
KHH: I am also getting involved in doing more charity projects to help children in Myanmar. I feel that I have been very blessed in my life, and it’s time to help the children that are not as fortunate. Our two daughters just graduated from college in Canada this year, so I have more time to pursue all my different interests and keep myself busy.

Ends.
About Kyi Hla Han
Country: Myanmar
Date of Birth: February 13, 1961
Residence: Singapore
Turned Pro: 1980
Twitter Handle: @kyi_hla
Family: Married, Wife: Marlene, Daughters: Natasha and Kaitlyn
ASIAN TOUR VICTORIES: (1) 1999 Volvo China Open
ASIAN CIRCUIT VICTORIES: (1) 1997 Rolex Singapore Masters
AUSTRALASIAN TOUR VICTORIES: (1) 1994 Epson Singapore Open
OTHER WINS: (14) 1983 and 1984 Dunlop Malaysian Masters
1983 and 1985 Malaysian PGA Championship
1985 and 1988 Thailand PGA Championship
1985 Royal Johor Championship
1985 and 1988 PFP Malaysia Championship
1994 and 1995 Hong Kong PGA Championship
1994 Johor Masters
1988 Tourism Malaysia Events in Penang and Miri
AMATEUR WINS: (3) 1980 Putra Cup, 1977 and 1978 Burma Amateur Open
OTHERS: Represented Myanmar in World Cup Golf in 1980, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2004.
Represented Myanmar National Amateur Team 1977-1980.
Sentosa, Singapore, July 30: Last week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational saw four Asian Tour members in the field, and of those the player with the highest OWGR ranking also posted the best result in the tournament.
South African Justin Harding was in tied-18th position going into Sunday after a six-under-par 64 in the third round, and had an outside chance to secure a PGA Tour card for next season with a low final round.
Needing at least a top-five finish, which would have required a 63 in the fourth round, Harding was unable to replicate Saturday’s stellar round and instead signed for a 74 and a tied 43rd place.
With only one event remaining on the PGA Tour schedule before the play-offs, Harding will now have to play the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, if he so chooses, to gain a PGA Tour card for next season.
Harding who was ranked 51st on the OWGR last week, remains so on the updated list.
He is currently in 11th place in the Presidents Cup standings, with likely only one qualifying event available to him remaining.
Order of Merit leader Jazz Janewattananond did not play any event last week and stays in 53rd place on the OWGR.
He also remains in ninth place in the Presidents Cup standings for the international team, one spot outside the automatic selections.
Jazz will likely need at least a top-three finish in his last qualifying event, the Sarawak Championship August 15-18, in order to avoid hoping for a captain’s pick from Ernie Els.
Like his countryman above, the 2013 Order of Merit champion Kiradech Aphibarnrat did not play last week following his personal best finish of tied-32nd in The Open, and remains in 54th place on the OWGR.
Kiradech will be playing in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour this week and will be trying to make up some ground in the Presidents Cup race.
He is currently in 18th place in the standings, 38 points behind the current last automatic spot holder C.T. Pan of Taiwan.
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 V.Krishnaswamy at Royal Portrush
Portrush, Northern Ireland, July 17: Shubhankar Sharma, the only Indian in the field for The 148th Open can draw strength from a very interesting fact about Royal Portrush.
When the last big event, the Irish Open, was held here at the Royal Portrush in 2012, it was none other than his senior, mentor and idol, Jeev Milkha Singh, who held a share of the first round lead.
Singh shot a first round card of 65 and he co-led with Gregory Bourdy. However by the end of the week, Jeev slipped and finished T-30.
It was a very memorable Irish Open for Singh, who before the tournament, was presented with a bottle of 21 year old Bushmills single malt whisky by Northern Ireland’s golfing legend Darren Clarke.
At that time Singh had said, , “The atmosphere and the feel to the golf course is fantastic. When you have so many people cheering and watching you I think you feel great.”
More than 30,000 people turned up to watch the final day, when Welshman Jamie Donaldson won with a final round 66. Singh shot rounds of 65, 71, 75 and 71 and was tied-30th.
Interestingly, the field included Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, the three Major Champions whose success has helped the game grow in Northern Ireland. They had the biggest galleries but were unable to break 70 on the first day. By the end of the week, McIlroy was T-10, McDowell was T-16 and Clarke T-39.
Behind Donaldson (68, 67, 69 and 66; 270) were Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Anthony Wall and Fabrizio Zanotti in Tied-second, who were four shots behind the winner.
That year Singh was one of the three Indians – Shiv Kapur and SSP Chawrasia – and the field also included Thongchai Jaidee, who with rounds of 67-72-74-66 ended tied-18th and Jeev was tied-30th.
Kapur (74-69) missed the cut by one shot and Chawrasia (78-73) missed it by a big margin.
Singh waxed eloquent about his love for Links golf, saying, “My first experience as a 16-year-old in Links golf was rounds of 87 and 84 in Wales in an Amateur championship. I thought ‘My God, this is tough’. I wasn’t used to wearing raingear.”
“In Links golf, you have to hit a lot of low shots and you have to have a lot of imagination.” He added. “I think a lot of feel and imagination is required, and that’s what I love about links golf.”
Singh took part in nine Irish Opens and made the cut in five with a best of tied-11 in 2011.
The Irish Open had come back to Portrush after a gap of 65 years in 2012 – they last held the Irish Open in 1947. Now, The Open, which was last held here in 1951 returns to Portrush after a gap of 68 years.
A total of 16 Asian Tour members will tee off on Thursday, including Sharma. Thailand has the most members with four. Jazz Janewattananond, who leads the current Asian Tour Order of Merit, PGA TOUR member Kiradech Aphibarnrat. Gunn Charoenkul and Prom Meesawat came through International qualifiers.
Japan has the next highest among Asian nationalities with Asian Tour membership, with three and Republic of Korea has three players who are Asian Tour members.
Overall, Japan has eight (including four non-member professionals and one amateur), Korea has eight (including five non-members).
The 16 Asian Tour members this week are:
Thailand: Four (Jazz Janewattananond, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Gunn Charoenkul and Prom Meesawat)
Japan: Three (Yosuke Asaji, Mikumu Horikawa and Yuta Ikeda)
Korea: Three (Dongkyu Jang, Doyeob Mun and Sanghyun Park)
United States: Two (David Lipsky and Kurt Kitayama)
South Africa: Two (Justin Harding and Shaun Norris)
Australia: One (Jake McLeod)
India: One (Shubhankar Sharma)
Ends.
Sentosa, Singapore, July 17: The 148th Open gets underway on Thursday but before it does, we take a look at where our players currently stand on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
South African Justin Harding managed to secure his place at next week’s World Golf Championships-St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, Tennessee, despite missing the cut at the European Tour’s ASI Scottish Open.
Placed 48th on the OWGR prior to the Scottish Open, Harding slipped two spots to 50th on the rankings to barely make the cut-off mark following the first qualifying date on July 15.
There is, however, another cut-off date for the event on July 22 and two players just outside top-50 can still look to qualify with solid showings at The Open this week.
Former Order of Merit winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat made the five-under-par cut in Scotland after rounds of 71 and 66 but finished the event in 80th place and missed out on the OWGR points.
Kiradech slipped one spot to 52nd this week and will need to make up at least two places to qualify for next week’s WGC event.
A two-time winner in 2019 at the SMBC Singapore Open and Kolon Korea Open, Jazz Janewattanaond took last week off to rest and prepare for this week’s Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
Like his countryman Kiradech, Jazz, the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, also dropped a spot to 53rd place on the OWGR.
With 100 OWGR points on offer at The Open, Jazz will be looking to put up a fine performance to break into the world’s top-50 and earn his place in the Memphis field.
Ends.
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.
Find out what the Sarawak Championship winner Andrew Dodt had in the bag last week.
Here is what the Sarawak Championship winner Andrew Dodt had in the bag last week:
Driver: Titleist TS3 9.5* Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6 X
Fairway: Titleist TS2 15* Shaft: Fujikura Speeder Motore
Irons: Titleist T100 (4-9) Shaft: TrueTemper Dynamic Gold X100
Wedge1: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 46* F-Grind
Wedge2: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 52* F-Grind
Wedge3: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 56* S-Grind
Wedge4: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 60* L-Grind
Putter: Titleist Scotty Cameron Futura X
Ball: Titleist Pro V1 x (2019)
Shoes: FootJoy
Glove: FootJoy
Cap: Titleist
Bag: Titleist
Note: 3 Iron Titleist T-MB 718 with FST KBS Proto
A look ahead to this week’s Sarawak Championship at Damai Golf and Country Club.
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
The Tournament
The US$ 300,000 Sarawak Championship is a relatively new event on the Asian Tour schedule, with the first edition of the tournament played in July last year and providing an exciting finish.
With Thailand’s Jazz Janewattanond playing in the penultimate group having posted a 21-under-par 267 to grab the clubhouse lead, it all came down to the last group of John Catlin, Danthai Boonma and Paul Peterson to decide an outright winner or possible play-off. Catlin and Danthai were tied for the lead with Jazz playing the 18th, and Peterson one shot behind.
Danthai could only manage a par on the last to stay in a tie for the lead, and Peterson would join the leaders after converting a birdie effort from 15 feet.
Catlin was the last man with a chance to break the four-way tie for the lead, and made a clutch birdie putt from 12 feet to claim the trophy and winner’s check of US$54,000.
The Course
The Arnold Palmer Designed Damai Golf and Country Club in Kuching, Malaysia is a par-72 course playing to 6,979 yards from the tournament tees.
If the conditions are anything like last year, players should be ready for a low-scoring week. The weekend cut was set at three-under-par last year and the fourth-round average score for players who finished in the top-10 was 66.3, or 5.7-under-par.
Only one player in this group failed to shoot in the 60s on Sunday, and his score was a two-under-par 70.
The Top Contenders
While nine players from the top-20 on the Order of Merit are in the field in Kuching, it is noteworthy that this list includes the two players who have earned a combined US$ 1,265,000 so far this year.
Order of Merit leader Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand with just over US$ 738,000 in earnings has already won two titles this year- the SMBC Singapore Open and Kolon Korea Open, and is surely looking to extend his lead in the Order of Merit race.
As an added motivation for Jazz, the cut-off date for the Presidents Cup automatic selections is coming up this Sunday. He is currently 10th in the standings, 11.24 points behind C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei in eighth place , and will need a win this week to have a chance to play his way into the top-eight to qualify on points.
Looking at the numbers behind Jazz’s stellar play this year, it’s no mystery why he has amassed 10 top-five finishes across all tours including the two wins.
If we filter the 2019 Asian Tour stats for players with eight tournament rounds or more, Jazz would be ranked first in Scoring Average (68.76) and Bogey Avoidance (1.9), second in Greens in Regulation (76.05%) and Scrambling (70.40%), third in Birdies per Round (4.72) and eight in Total Driving (Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy combined).
Add a combined All-Round category (Total Driving, GIR, Putts/GIR and Scrambling) and he would rank first in that one as well.
This year’s Maybank Championship winner Scott Hend of Australia is one of the most prolific winners on the Asian Tour, with 10 titles to his name. Currently in second place on the Order of Merit with US$527,530, Hend is also in second place in Career Earnings with US$5,061,754 in winnings during his 13 years in Asia.
Like the player he is chasing above, Hend also has some very solid stats in his 2019 campaign. Known for a long time as one of the longest drivers on Tour, he would, using the same criteria as above, be ranked third in Driving Distance (305.47 yards), fifth in Total Driving, sixth in Birdies per Round (4.53) and fifth in a combined All-Round category.
Coming off four missed cuts in a row in Asia and Europe, 2016 Order of Merit winner Hend will be keen to break this trend and make a dent in Jazz’s US$210,000 lead on the Order of Merit.
The Challengers
Using the filtering criteria mentioned earlier, Khan would currently be seventh in GIR (71.5%) and first in Scrambling (73.2%).
In his only two Asian Tour starts this season, he has a third-place finish in the Bangabandhu Cup and a tied-10th in the Hero Indian Open. He is also is leading the Order of Merit on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) with two victories and five other top-10s in his eight events played this season.
It would not be surprising to see Khan return to fully exempt playing status on the Asian Tour next year, and a top finish this week would go a long way towards this goal.
Fellow Indian Ajeetesh Sandhu came very close to winning his second Asian Tour title in Bangladesh in early April, when he finished runner-up a single shot behind rookie winner Sadom Kaewkanjana from Thailand.
Sandhu’s stats have also been good across the board this year, he’s as of this week ranked 16th in GIR (68.4%) and 13th in Scrambling (62.2%), while he sits in 10th place in the All-Round category.
Currently in 20th place on the Order of Merit with just short of US$71,000, Sandhu’s playing rights for next season are nearly secured. A high finish this week could make that a certainty.
He has already proven he can play well on this course, finishing tied-11th last year on a score of 15-under-par, and could be a man to bet on for his second career Asian Tour win this week.
Thailand’s Prom Meesawat is enjoying a good season so far with three top-10s on the Asian Tour, with one of them, the SMBC Singapore Open, also earning him his second appearance in The Open Championship last month.
He has also won the Butra Heidelberg Cement Brunei Championships on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) and the 20th Singha Thailand Masters on the All Thailand Golf Tour in 2019.
Prom has not won on the Asian Tour since the 2014 Yeangder TPC, but a return to the winner’s circle could be imminent.
Last but not least, a player that is very much due for his first Asian Tour title is Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe. One of the most consistent high-performers in 2018, a year when nine top-10 finishes in Asia saw him finish fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Vincent has so far this season posted a fourth place in the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth as his best result, along with a tied-sixth in the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup and tied-10th in the Kolon Korea Open, and is currently ranked ninth on the Order of Merit with almost US$160,000.
In June he also claimed his first professional victory in the Landic Challenge 7 on the AbemaTV Tour in Japan.
Vincent should have good memories from last year’s Sarawak Championship when he finished tied-seventh after a final round eight-under-par 64, and could be primed for a breakthrough Asian Tour win in Kuching after six weeks away from tournament golf.
A look at movements on the OWGR following last week’s worldwide events.
Sentosa, Singapore, August 6: Last week’s Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour was the last event of the regular season before the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and Asian Tour was represented by Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Anirban Lahiri and Monday qualifier Paul Peterson.
The event had big implications for Lahiri. Heading into the week in 178th place on the FedEx Cup Standings, he would have needed a tied-second finish at Wyndham to get inside the top-125 and keep his card, or a tied-fourth for top-150 and conditional status for next season.
With a score of eight-under-par 272 the 2015 Order of Merit champion finished tied-53rd, and will now have to play the three events on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals starting next week in order to regain his PGA Tour playing rights.
Thailand’s Kiradech has already secured his card for next year by being well inside the top 125 and will be playing in the first play-off event this week- The Northern Trust in New Jersey. Kiradech is currently ranked 76th in the standings and will have get inside the top-70 in order to advance to the BMW Championship, the next event in the play-offs. He’s as of this week 44 points behind Matthew Wolff in 70th place.
At last week’s Wyndham Championship Kiradech got off to a hot start with a six-under-par 64 in the first round, but the following rounds of 72, 69, and 68 meant he would finish the week in tied-60th place on the low-scoring course.
On the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) Kiradech lost five spots and is now 59th on the updated list, while in the Presidents Cup Standings he has fallen two spots to 20th with two weeks to go before the cut-off date for the automatic selections which is due on August 18th.
The two other Asian Tour members in the top 100 on the OWGR, Justin Harding and Jazz Janewattananond, did not play any event last week and dropped one position each to 52nd and 54th respectively.
Both are also in the running for a place on captain Ernie Els’s squad for the Presidents Cup in December.
Jazz is currently ranked ninth, one spot outside an automatic selection, and has one event remaining, the Sarawak Championship August 15-18. He will likely need at least a solo-second in Sarawak to avoid relying on a captain’s pick.
Harding has a little more work to do as he’s 11th in the standings and will need to make up 12 points on the currently eight-placed C.T. Pan from Chinese Taipei. For an automatic selection he will need a win at his next event, likely the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals series August 15-18.
In our first installment of our ‘Where are they now?’ series, we track down one of Asia’s golfing legends and find out what he’s up to now after ruling the fairways for more than a decade .
The Asian Tour has welcomed many worthy champions into the winner’s circle. While many of them are still making their mark on the Tour and beyond, some have decided to put away their clubs but have continued to leave an impression on us.
In our first instalment of our ‘Where are they now?’ series, we spoke to Kyi Hla Han, who was the Asian Tour’s Executive Chairman for several years and is best remembered for winning the Volvo China Open and Asian Tour Order of Merit in 1999.
After ruling the fairways for more than two decades, Han is still very much passionate about the sport which brought him much success and even introduced him to his wife in Hong Kong.
So tell us, how did you get started in professional golf and the Asian Tour back in 1994-95?
KHH: I turned professional in December 1980 at the World Cup in Bogota, Colombia. I was 19 and still in University but wanted to turn professional badly then. I started playing the old Asian Circuit in 1981 which was basically about nine to 10 National Opens over a 10-week period run by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC). There were also a few professional events in South East Asia which would be the equivalent to what we have with the Asian Development Tour now. I won over a dozen of them, like the Malaysian and Thai PGA Championships and the Malaysian Masters.
Since the old Asian Circuit was much smaller than the Asian Tour is now, what did you do when there were no events in Asia?
KHH: I wanted to play more events, so I went to play in Australia, Europe and Japan because I felt like there were not enough tournaments in Asia. I met my wife Marlene in Hong Kong where she was living at the time, and in 1993, she was approached by a sports marketing company that wanted to start up a Tour with about 20 events in Asia. I was asked to help structure the Tour from a player’s point of view, and in 1995 the Asian PGA Tour was launched with me and Dom Boulet as its founding members. At the time I still had a card on the Japan Golf Tour (JGTO), so I didn’t really play the Asian PGA Tour until 1996.
Except for winning some of the smaller events which you mentioned earlier, you must have won bigger ones as well?
KHH: Yeah, I won the Singapore Open in 1994 which was an event on the Australian Tour then, and also the 1997 Rolex Singapore Masters. But the highlight of my career was definitely in 1999 when I won the Asian Tour Order of Merit along with the Volvo China Open.

How many years did you play on the Asian Tour before you retired and transitioned into management?
KHH: After I won the Order of Merit in 1999 I was trying to raise my game but I felt like I wasn’t improving enough to get to the next level, to play on the European Tour or PGA TOUR. In 2003, there was talk among players who wanted us to form our own Association, so we split from the Asian PGA and founded the Asian Tour in 2004. Me and five other players were the founding members, and I served as the Chairman of the Tour. I was pretty involved even though I was playing. My game was still ok and I was younger so I thought I could do both. But by 2006 I had a lot of injuries, so I stopped playing and took over as Executive Chairman later that year. Being on the management side is totally different to being a player. But it was a good experience as I got to understand both sides of the sport.
How do you feel now when you see all these young Asian players coming up and venturing out in the world, instead of in the past where most players wanted to play only in Asia?
KHH: I think it’s fantastic and it’s always been my goal to see our players to be on the world stage. It’s great to see young guys like Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Jazz Janewattananond, Anirban Lahiri and Gavin Green coming up as it was always the intention for the Tour to create a pathway for players to become world class champions.
After 25 years of playing and 12 years in Asian Tour’s management, you are still serving on the Asian Tour’s Board of Directors. But outside of the Tour, what are you up to these days?
KHH: I’ve always loved golf course design and it was something I wanted to pursue. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to design a course in Dalat, Vietnam (The Dalat at 1200 Country Club), and to be involved as a signature designer in a Schmidt-Curley Golf Design project near Mandalay, Myanmar. I have a partner in my golf design business, Sam Sakocius who has a vast knowledge of course construction. I was also approached by some people to start the Junior Golf Tour of Asia (JGTA) that is associated with the American Junior Golf Assiciation (AJGA), which basically helps our junior players get into colleges in the U.S. on golf scholarships. The Tour is for boys and girls aged between 12 to 18 years old. We have finished two seasons of the JGTA and so far seven of our players have received scholarships to Division I colleges in the U.S.
We know that you are also involved in music and playing a lot of guitar?
KHH: Yes, I’ve always been into classic rock from the 60’s and 70’s and played some guitar in my teenage years, I’ve always loved music. When I started living in Singapore, I was always going out to the bars and restaurants to listen to music. It was there where I met up with two guys that played that kind of music. I became good friends with one of them who is now one of the top guitarists in Singapore- Robyn Anthony. I get involved in gigs with them at clubs, bars and private homes and it’s really fun. Playing music is very relaxing and it’s good to have a new challenge.

Being a top player and out on tour for a long time, is there anything you miss about the Tour?
KHH: The comradery, and how you remain friends with fellow players even for a long time away from the Tour. I do miss all my friends out on tour. I have a lot of good stories and memories from the Tour, but I think the players are probably a little more serious now than we used to be. When we were out there were a lot of players with their own character, but they all played well.
So, what’s a good story?
KHH: I just met up with Danny Mjiovic from Canada in Toronto a few weeks ago, he used to play the Tour about 20 years ago and he was actually the guy that introduced me to my wife Marlene! One of the most memorable moments on Tour was back in 2000. After I won the 1999 Order of Merit, they paired me with Tiger Woods in the Johnnie Walker Classic after he had just won four Majors in a row. That was a real highlight.
Any other hobbies or interests taking up your time nowadays?
KHH: I am also getting involved in doing more charity projects to help children in Myanmar. I feel that I have been very blessed in my life, and it’s time to help the children that are not as fortunate. Our two daughters just graduated from college in Canada this year, so I have more time to pursue all my different interests and keep myself busy.

Ends.
About Kyi Hla Han
Country: Myanmar
Date of Birth: February 13, 1961
Residence: Singapore
Turned Pro: 1980
Twitter Handle: @kyi_hla
Family: Married, Wife: Marlene, Daughters: Natasha and Kaitlyn
ASIAN TOUR VICTORIES: (1) 1999 Volvo China Open
ASIAN CIRCUIT VICTORIES: (1) 1997 Rolex Singapore Masters
AUSTRALASIAN TOUR VICTORIES: (1) 1994 Epson Singapore Open
OTHER WINS: (14) 1983 and 1984 Dunlop Malaysian Masters
1983 and 1985 Malaysian PGA Championship
1985 and 1988 Thailand PGA Championship
1985 Royal Johor Championship
1985 and 1988 PFP Malaysia Championship
1994 and 1995 Hong Kong PGA Championship
1994 Johor Masters
1988 Tourism Malaysia Events in Penang and Miri
AMATEUR WINS: (3) 1980 Putra Cup, 1977 and 1978 Burma Amateur Open
OTHERS: Represented Myanmar in World Cup Golf in 1980, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2004.
Represented Myanmar National Amateur Team 1977-1980.
A look at movements on the OWGR following last week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Sentosa, Singapore, July 30: Last week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational saw four Asian Tour members in the field, and of those the player with the highest OWGR ranking also posted the best result in the tournament.
South African Justin Harding was in tied-18th position going into Sunday after a six-under-par 64 in the third round, and had an outside chance to secure a PGA Tour card for next season with a low final round.
Needing at least a top-five finish, which would have required a 63 in the fourth round, Harding was unable to replicate Saturday’s stellar round and instead signed for a 74 and a tied 43rd place.
With only one event remaining on the PGA Tour schedule before the play-offs, Harding will now have to play the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, if he so chooses, to gain a PGA Tour card for next season.
Harding who was ranked 51st on the OWGR last week, remains so on the updated list.
He is currently in 11th place in the Presidents Cup standings, with likely only one qualifying event available to him remaining.
Order of Merit leader Jazz Janewattananond did not play any event last week and stays in 53rd place on the OWGR.
He also remains in ninth place in the Presidents Cup standings for the international team, one spot outside the automatic selections.
Jazz will likely need at least a top-three finish in his last qualifying event, the Sarawak Championship August 15-18, in order to avoid hoping for a captain’s pick from Ernie Els.
Like his countryman above, the 2013 Order of Merit champion Kiradech Aphibarnrat did not play last week following his personal best finish of tied-32nd in The Open, and remains in 54th place on the OWGR.
Kiradech will be playing in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour this week and will be trying to make up some ground in the Presidents Cup race.
He is currently in 18th place in the standings, 38 points behind the current last automatic spot holder C.T. Pan of Taiwan.
Read to find out the latest movements of our members on the world rankings.
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.
Swamy takes a walk down memory lane to find out what lessons the Asian Tour players can learn from Jeev Milkha Singh.
By V.Krishnaswamy at Royal Portrush
Portrush, Northern Ireland, July 17: Shubhankar Sharma, the only Indian in the field for The 148th Open can draw strength from a very interesting fact about Royal Portrush.
When the last big event, the Irish Open, was held here at the Royal Portrush in 2012, it was none other than his senior, mentor and idol, Jeev Milkha Singh, who held a share of the first round lead.
Singh shot a first round card of 65 and he co-led with Gregory Bourdy. However by the end of the week, Jeev slipped and finished T-30.
It was a very memorable Irish Open for Singh, who before the tournament, was presented with a bottle of 21 year old Bushmills single malt whisky by Northern Ireland’s golfing legend Darren Clarke.
At that time Singh had said, , “The atmosphere and the feel to the golf course is fantastic. When you have so many people cheering and watching you I think you feel great.”
More than 30,000 people turned up to watch the final day, when Welshman Jamie Donaldson won with a final round 66. Singh shot rounds of 65, 71, 75 and 71 and was tied-30th.
Interestingly, the field included Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, the three Major Champions whose success has helped the game grow in Northern Ireland. They had the biggest galleries but were unable to break 70 on the first day. By the end of the week, McIlroy was T-10, McDowell was T-16 and Clarke T-39.
Behind Donaldson (68, 67, 69 and 66; 270) were Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Anthony Wall and Fabrizio Zanotti in Tied-second, who were four shots behind the winner.
That year Singh was one of the three Indians – Shiv Kapur and SSP Chawrasia – and the field also included Thongchai Jaidee, who with rounds of 67-72-74-66 ended tied-18th and Jeev was tied-30th.
Kapur (74-69) missed the cut by one shot and Chawrasia (78-73) missed it by a big margin.
Singh waxed eloquent about his love for Links golf, saying, “My first experience as a 16-year-old in Links golf was rounds of 87 and 84 in Wales in an Amateur championship. I thought ‘My God, this is tough’. I wasn’t used to wearing raingear.”
“In Links golf, you have to hit a lot of low shots and you have to have a lot of imagination.” He added. “I think a lot of feel and imagination is required, and that’s what I love about links golf.”
Singh took part in nine Irish Opens and made the cut in five with a best of tied-11 in 2011.
The Irish Open had come back to Portrush after a gap of 65 years in 2012 – they last held the Irish Open in 1947. Now, The Open, which was last held here in 1951 returns to Portrush after a gap of 68 years.
A total of 16 Asian Tour members will tee off on Thursday, including Sharma. Thailand has the most members with four. Jazz Janewattananond, who leads the current Asian Tour Order of Merit, PGA TOUR member Kiradech Aphibarnrat. Gunn Charoenkul and Prom Meesawat came through International qualifiers.
Japan has the next highest among Asian nationalities with Asian Tour membership, with three and Republic of Korea has three players who are Asian Tour members.
Overall, Japan has eight (including four non-member professionals and one amateur), Korea has eight (including five non-members).
The 16 Asian Tour members this week are:
Thailand: Four (Jazz Janewattananond, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Gunn Charoenkul and Prom Meesawat)
Japan: Three (Yosuke Asaji, Mikumu Horikawa and Yuta Ikeda)
Korea: Three (Dongkyu Jang, Doyeob Mun and Sanghyun Park)
United States: Two (David Lipsky and Kurt Kitayama)
South Africa: Two (Justin Harding and Shaun Norris)
Australia: One (Jake McLeod)
India: One (Shubhankar Sharma)
Ends.
The 148th Open gets underway on Thursday but before it does, we take a look at where our players currently stand on the OWGR.
Sentosa, Singapore, July 17: The 148th Open gets underway on Thursday but before it does, we take a look at where our players currently stand on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
South African Justin Harding managed to secure his place at next week’s World Golf Championships-St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, Tennessee, despite missing the cut at the European Tour’s ASI Scottish Open.
Placed 48th on the OWGR prior to the Scottish Open, Harding slipped two spots to 50th on the rankings to barely make the cut-off mark following the first qualifying date on July 15.
There is, however, another cut-off date for the event on July 22 and two players just outside top-50 can still look to qualify with solid showings at The Open this week.
Former Order of Merit winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat made the five-under-par cut in Scotland after rounds of 71 and 66 but finished the event in 80th place and missed out on the OWGR points.
Kiradech slipped one spot to 52nd this week and will need to make up at least two places to qualify for next week’s WGC event.
A two-time winner in 2019 at the SMBC Singapore Open and Kolon Korea Open, Jazz Janewattanaond took last week off to rest and prepare for this week’s Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
Like his countryman Kiradech, Jazz, the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, also dropped a spot to 53rd place on the OWGR.
With 100 OWGR points on offer at The Open, Jazz will be looking to put up a fine performance to break into the world’s top-50 and earn his place in the Memphis field.
Ends.
Olle Nordberg looks ahead to The 148th Open which will be played at Royal Portrush this week.
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.
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.





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