Published on March 2, 2022

The Covid-19 pandemic has been indiscriminate. It’s taken a heavy toll on men and women from all walks of life. Golf professionals have not been exempt. On the surface, Jazz Janewattananond would appear to have been among the more fortunate. Since early 2020, the former Asian Tour Order of Merit champion acknowledges he’s been lucky to have been able to continue plying his trade.

But living out of a suitcase and unable to return to home and spend time with loved ones has proved an immense – and often unpleasant – mental challenge, writes Contributing Editor Spencer Robinson.

Even for an even-keeled, feet-on-the-ground individual like the 26-year-old Thai, the effects have severely disturbed his equilibrium, resulting in prolonged periods of mental stress and depression that reduced him to the depths of despair.

Inevitably, his golf game has suffered.

Following top-four finishes in the Hong Kong Open and SMBC Singapore Open at the beginning of 2020, Jazz rose to a career-best 38th in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).

Then Covid-19 struck. It’s no coincidence that his form has dipped alarmingly. Of the 46 events in which he’s participated over the past 24 months, Jazz has had just six top-10s and missed 19 cuts.

Ahead of the inaugural International Series Thailand at Black Mountain Golf Club, his home club, Jazz has, for the first time, talked publicly about the mental health issues that have afflicted him – and led to the downturn in his playing fortunes.

“For me, I need to be happy to play good golf. I’m working on that now. I need to be happy with myself and happy with who I am,” said Jazz, following a closing 65 at the Royal’s Cup on Sunday that lifted him into a share of sixth place, indicating an improvement in his psychological state as much as his game.

By his own admission, there has not been a great deal of happiness or joy in his life these past two years.

“I haven’t been suicidal or anything like that. But you just wake up some days and don’t feel like doing anything – and that’s not like me. I’m usually the hyper type and optimistic. But the last two years when I’ve woken up, I’ve just wanted to lay in bed all day.

“A lot of people have lost their jobs, their loved ones, their life savings. I can’t compare myself to those people but, for sure, I’ve been badly affected.

“Some rounds in the last two years, I just felt that I didn’t want to be there. Because I’ve been travelling, I haven’t felt like I belonged. Living out of a suitcase, you don’t have a home to go to. That’s been the biggest threat to my mental health.

“I’ve been very lucky to be able to play golf these past two years and am grateful for that. But you go through depression because you can’t get home. And if you’re not happy with your life, then you can’t be happy with your golf.”

Thanks to the easing in travel and quarantine restrictions, Jazz was able to return to Thailand in late 2021 and reacquaint himself with family, friends and his dog.

“At the end of last year, I felt like my physical ability was not that tired, but mentally I was gone. I couldn’t think. I was on the road for a year and a half, with no news of Thailand opening up. Once they said Thailand was going to do the Test and Go scheme, it clicked that I wanted to go home and I was feeling homesick. So once I arrived in Thailand, my mind wasn’t on golf. It was good to kind of get away from it.

“I’m still in the process of getting back to normal – but I’m not there yet. In the last three months I’ve been home twice. But my mind won’t rest easy because I still have a lot of tournaments to play in Europe and overseas,” said Jazz, who is due to head to South Africa next week for back-to-back tournaments followed by the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

For now, though, Jazz is simply savouring being back on home soil and hopeful of thrilling his Thai fans on his home course in Hua Hin this week.

“Parts of my game are coming together. I just need to put it all together. I’m going to try and win because Black Mountain is my home club,” he said. If Jazz is simply able to get through the week free of mental stress, then that in itself will be a notable victory worth celebrating.

Published on

By Olle Nordberg – Contributing Editor

After a solid tied-12^th finish at last week’s Royal’s Cup in Kanchanaburi, Sweden’s Bjorn Hellgren is confident ahead of this week’s US$1.5 million International Series Thailand.

“I think I have a good chance of winning this week. It’s one of the courses that I can win on, a type of golf course that I can win on,” said Hellgren.

The Black Mountain Golf Club based 31-year-old has every reason to be confident this week. Having won the Black Mountain Invitational on the Swedish Golf Tour back-to-back in 2014-2015, he is also coming off his best Asian Tour performance to date.

“I like the course and it suits my eye. I think it’s a course that’s favorable for the longer guys, some of the par fives you kind of need to fly the ball maybe 300 yards in the air to hit those speed slots, so I like it,” he added.

Being able to stay at his Asian Tour home base this week will also add to him feeling comfortable, and the game is shaping up nicely after working on his swing the last few weeks.

“It’s going to be great, I’m so much looking forward to it. We said going into last week that we had a couple of things we needed to work on. So, we said ok, let’s not just work on them on the driving range. Let’s work on them on the course and try to get ready for this week. I think we did a good job with that, so I’m really excited about being here.”

Hellgren joined the Asian Tour in 2020 after successfully navigating the pressure packed Q-School by finishing tied-ninth, but his Asian Tour debut season that year would be cut short after only one event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was very fortunate to go back to Europe and play on the Challenge Tour that year. I finished 23rd on the Order of Merit so I was close. Playing good golf. I came back in 2021 and again played well on the Challenge Tour but missed a full card for the DP World Tour. My main focus now is on the Asian Tour and the schedule looks good. It’s a great opportunity.”

The Swede played his college golf at Florida State University and was part of an impressive team that included four-time Major winner and former world number one Brooks Koepka and four-time PGA Tour winner Daniel Berger among others.

“They’re a bunch of PGA Tour players right now. We had Brooks Koepka, Daniel Berger, Hank Lebioda and Chase Seiffert. They were all on my team. We were like six-seven guys on the team, so we were a good group of guys. We were all playing golf trying to make it. I still talk to a couple of them.”

Maybe it was Koepka’s immediate success in the pro ranks that inspired Hellgren to cut his college career short after three years and turn pro:

He said; “We saw Brooks go over to Europe playing the Challenge Tour and won one event. He went back the next year and won three events in the spring to get his DP World Tour card. That same summer both me and Daniel Berger dropped out and turned pro, because we thought we could do the same thing.

“I saw how he (Brooks) came out and just played so aggressive, like how we grew up playing, how we were taught to play. So, I figured if he could do it, I can do it.

“I talked a bit to Brooks when I was in Saudi, he got in touch with me while I was there. I texted him and said that I’m finally playing with the big boys now, and then you’re not playing. So, we talked a little bit. I took some pictures of Bryson for him, and he laughed about those.”

While things haven’t happened as quickly for Hellgren as for some of his former teammates, he has collected six professional wins on the Swedish Golf Tour since turning pro in 2013, as well as topping that Tour’s Order of Merit in 2015.

Having home field advantage at a course he has won twice on before could just be the edge he needs as he attempts to win his first Asian Tour title.

He adds: “To tell you the truth, the last two or three months I’ve been kind of technically not great. I’ve been playing shots that I don’t like and just trying to play golf with what I have at the moment. I wanted to get back to how I was hitting the ball in 2020, and that’s what we’ve been working hard on these last two weeks. So, from going playing a fade in Saudi to just playing draw shots last week. It’s been quite the change. Well, we’ll get there.”

Published on February 28, 2022

A tough couple of years it may have been, but there’s no masking the refreshing bullishness of Gaganjeet Bhullar ahead of his welcome return to the Asian Tour spotlight this week.

Free from injury and illness and embracing life as a new father, the strapping Indian is eager to rediscover the form that caught the attention of the golfing world more than a decade ago.

Ahead of the International Series Thailand at Black Mountain Golf Club, Bhullar, who turns 34 in April, has repelled all negative thoughts and believes a resurgence is on the cards.

“I’m coming out with a new mindset. New season, new mindset. It’s like starting from scratch,” said Bhullar, determined to put a roller-coaster period in his career in the rear view mirror.

In 21 starts last year, he managed just two top-10 finishes and missed no fewer than 11 cuts. Further frustration came at the start of 2022 when he contracted Covid and was prevented from participating in the back-to-back Singapore events that belatedly brought the curtain down on the Asian Tour’s 2020-21 season.

Although he arrives in Hua Hin languishing in 546th place in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), Bhullar insists he’s back on the right path after a sobering fall from grace.

Consider that nine years ago, in March of 2013, Bhullar soared to 85th in the OWGR. Such was his career trajectory then that he was widely tipped to make it into the elite top-50.

It didn’t happen then, but Bhullar, older and considerably wiser now, is optimistic of scaling those heights once more.

He said: “By 2013 I’d reached a good level and wanted to get to the highest Tours. That didn’t happen. But I am still confident of getting to where I want to. I am hopeful of soon getting back to where I was with my game. I feel my best is yet to come.

“I haven’t set any goals, as such. All I want to do is to play … and play well. The rest will take care of itself. I’ve spent 15 years in pro golf and I am now ready for the next 15. All I need to do is to play well.”

Bhullar knows a thing or two about playing well. In terms of number of victories, he ranks fifth in the all-time list of Asian Tour winners (from 1995 to present).

With nine wins to his name he’s behind only Asian Tour legends Thaworn Wiractchant (18), Thongchai Jaidee (13) and Scott Hend and Prayad Marksaeng (both 10).

If he needed an added incentive to make it into double figures, then the arrival of a daughter, Farida, five months ago has done just that.

“I am loving fatherhood. My daughter has started recognising faces and voices. I’ve been waking up to her smile every morning – that was the positive of having been at home for last two months,” said Bhullar, who fondly recalls having his wife by his side when he last tasted Asian Tour success, at the Fiji International in 2018.

“That was great to fly back with the trophy … and I had my wife to share the moment. Now I want to win for my daughter,” said Bhullar.

 

 

 

Published on

Three-time Asian Tour winner Andrew Dodt says “you really have to have all parts of your game on song” when playing Black Mountain Golf Club, venue for this week’s US$1.5 million International Series Thailand – the first of the groundbreaking new International Series events.

The talented Australian is more than qualified to comment on the course because he won the True Thailand Classic there in 2015.

“You have got to be good in the wind,” said the 36 year old.

“I have not been back since 2016, but from memory you have to be good in the wind. The mountain makes the wind swirl. You have holes that play up, you have holes that play down, and there are cross winds swirling around the mountain, so that’s tricky. And the greens get really firm. You really have to have all parts of your game on song.”

Dodt won the event, which was jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and DP World Tour, by beating compatriot Scott Hend and Thai star Thongchai Jaidee by a shot.

“I remember playing really well on the final day, I played with Richard Green and Prayad Marksaeng. I was just really solid, I shot 67. Had a bit of fortune with Thongchai three putting the last, for me to win by one,” added Dodt.

“I remember I felt really good and calm all day. I holed some nice putts and hit a lot of great shots, and managed to come away with the trophy.”

Dodt finished tied 23rd in the Royals Cup at the weekend.

He added: “I like my game at the moment, maybe a little rusty. It’s just great to be back playing again. I have only played six events in the last two years. I am getting some momentum now and finding some form.

“I am 36, I know my game reasonably well now, if something goes wrong, I know how to fix it pretty quick, wish I knew that when I was 25.”

Hend, who won the True Thailand tournament the following year, is also competing in this week’s event.

Published on February 27, 2022

Chinese-Taipei’s Chan Shih-chang claimed a magnificent wire-to-wire victory in the Royal’s Cup today to secure his second victory on the Asian Tour in the space of four months and fourth in total.

Chan closed with a four-under-par 68 to finish with an impressive winning total of 23 under for a three-shot win over Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana and American Sihwan Kim.

Sadom also returned a 68 while Sihwan fired a 70, in the second event of the season on the Asian Tour.

Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong and Bio Kim from Korea, finished three strokes further back, in a tie for fourth after rounds of 66 and 68 respectively.

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond closed with a 65 in a group of players tied sixth to suggest the 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion is starting to rediscover his best form.

It looked like being a much closer finish to the US$400,000 event when Chan Shih-chang started the day with a one-shot lead over Sihwan before the American drew level with him on 21 under after nine holes.

But Sihwan bogeyed four in row from 10 before Chan took control with three birdies on the trot from the 13th to take a commanding five shot lead.

Sihwan and Sadom both made birdie on the last two holes to draw closer, but it was not enough to stop the impressive Chan, who won the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship in November.

“It has been a great week, claiming the hole in one prize and winning again in Thailand. Amazing,” said Chan, who made a hole in one on the par-three 16th on the second day.

“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much coming into this week. I didn’t play well in Singapore and Saudi. I just focused on my routine, tempo and concentrated on every shot out there. I got off to a good start and that helped a lot. I just kept riding on that good form. That ace kept me going as well. I was able to play my best game out there this week. I think that’s the key. I got my swing back and that led me to win this week.”

Chan Shih-chang has now claimed three titles on the Asian Tour in Thailand as he also won the King’s Cup in 2016 – suggesting an affinity with the country and its Royal family.
“It was a pretty tough stretch [on 10, 11 and 12] there were I missed a three footer, four footer and five footer,” said Sihwan, who was also in the final pairing on Sunday at the Blue Canyon event and SMBC Singapore Open before finishing joint fourth and fourth respectively.

“I couldn’t get it going and you have to make those to get the momentum going. That shut my round down but I did well to get it back at the end. I am pretty satisfied overall. I will get some good rest and go at it again next week.”

Sadom won the SMBC Singapore Open last month and was one of the favourites this week but never really got close to the runaway winner.

Said Sadom: “Today it was a tough course for me, it was windy, and I felt a lot of pressure. I feel like when I play in my home country there is a lot of pressure. I tried to only think about my game, just play and be happy and do my best.

“I think everything was good today, it was just my putting that was so-so. The greens are difficult, and I couldn’t commit to my lines, but I think I did my best. I thought I would have a chance to catch up with Chan today, but he was playing too well.”

The Asian Tour heads to the International Series Thailand next week at Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin. The inaugural US$1.5 million event is the first of 10 new International Series of events – a ground-breaking series of upper-tier elite tournaments.

Published on

Thailand’s Panuphol Pittayarat, popularly known as “Coconut”, has kindly agreed to document his season for us through a regular diary that will give us some insight into the life of a Touring professional. In the first of his entries, he looks back on his near miss in Phuket, where he tied for second, his on-going battles with a shoulder injury and being inspired by playing with Paul Casey. 

January/February

First up, I’d like to thank the Asian Tour for giving me the opportunity to write a diary this year. It’s gonna be fun and I’m looking forward to it.

So, where do I start? Well, it’s really all about my shoulder injury.

After coming off a shoulder injury last year I was really happy to play well at the Laguna Phuket Championship before the year ended. I had a chance to win but I let it slip away. I can’t complain, it was the second event back after the long break and finishing second was a real boost.

At the two events in Singapore in January, I finished tied 23rd and tied 24^th, so it was a grind. I had been working on my swing, and new swing thoughts, particularly trying to deal with my body changing from the injury. I was trying to get back to where it was and trying to get back in physical shape.

There’s been a bit of change in the swing caused by tightness from the injury. I’ve been trying to stretch it out but after the injury a lot of stuff doesn’t move the same. So, it’s been a lot of body work and it’s been working ok.

The injury last year started with a stiff neck; nothing was torn but it turned into a shoulder injury, on the right side, so I took three months off.

When the Phuket events came around, I wasn’t 100%, but luckily it went ok.

Fortunately, going into Singapore my putting was much better. I had done a lot of work on my putting and my game was fine, but it wasn’t sharp enough to get a top-10 or win but it’s still progress.

I still do some rehab even though there’s no more injury. What I have now is just tightness and strength that hasn’t come back to normal. It’s been a lot of body work, working a lot on my stretching to prevent another injury.

During time off I normally do some cycling, but I haven’t been able to do that because of the shoulder. I do road cycling, although that doesn’t exactly help the shoulder. But I’m raring to get back on the road again. I’m craving for cycling.

After the two Singapore events I went to Phuket for a week. I spent a couple of days at Laguna Golf Phuket and then mostly just relaxed by the beach to chill out.

Starting the new season at the Saudi International I obviously wanted to play well. It’s such a big event. You want to try to make the weekend and then climb up the leaderboard on moving day, but with the wind it was a tough week. It was a very strong wind which we usually don’t have on the Asian Tour. I mean a 40 to 50 yard wind is just something different. I think I learned a lot from it, and I enjoyed the week there, it was really good.

It felt great playing in an event with all the top players. I played with Paul Casey on the Saturday and just to play with him and see his shots, it just tells me that I have to go back and work on a lot of stuff. Because seeing world class golf up close, it just tells you where you’re at. You learn a lot from them because you want to be up there with them. You want to try to be at the same level, but it tells you that you’re not there yet.

I was practicing behind Tyrrell Hatton one day and watched him hit it so solid. Playing with Paul gave me a lot of tips from seeing it up close. I think I learned a lot because I’m a guy that observes. I kind of watched him play as well, and I just enjoyed it. It was very exciting, it’s very nice to see those guys up close.

When I got back from Saudi I took five days off completely and then got back to my normal off-week routines with doing some practice, gym work and cycling. Unfortunately, after getting back into it, I started feeling a twinge in my left shoulder which is not the one that was injured last year.

I was trying to make a little bit of a swing change, and maybe that combined with the workouts and physio treatment brought the injury on. I started feeling it last Sunday, and the next day I woke up feeling really stiff. By Tuesday I knew I had to withdraw from this week’s Royal’s Cup in Kanchanaburi. That was really disappointing.

But as I write this, I’m feeling a bit better, so I’m hoping to be able to play in next week’s International Series Thailand at Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin. That promises to be a really exciting new event, which is great for the Tour.

I will let you all know how it goes in next month’s diary.

 

 

Published on February 26, 2022

Chan Shih-chang continued to shoot the lights out in the Royal’s Cup today after carding a five-under-par 67 to lead the Asian Tour event on 19 under.

American Sihwan Kim is a stroke behind after firing a 66 at Grand Prix Golf Club, while Sadom Kaewkanjana from Thailand is two shots further back following a 67.

Yesterday, Chan finished with a hole in one on 16 and an eagle on 18 to open up a two-shot advantage and he was equally as ruthless today on the front nine going out in four under to lead by four at the turn from Kim. However, the American rallied with a strong back nine to ensure Chan did not start to run away with the US$400,000 event.

“My front nine was really solid today,” said 35-year-old Chan Shih-chang.

“I knew I was leading by four after the turn. Heading into the back nine, I was just thinking to make more birdies so that I can widen the lead. If I can do that, it will be more comfortable for me tomorrow. But still leading by one now, not thinking much to be honest. I just want to continue playing like how I did so far and see how it goes tomorrow.”

The Chinese-Taipei golfer won the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship at the end of last year for his third win on the Asian Tour. He is also a six-time winner on the Asian Development Tour with the last of those coming in 2018 on home soil.

Chan Shih-chang has actually missed the cut in three out of the four events played since Blue Canyon so victory on Sunday will be an impressive turnaround in form.

Kim is in search of his first win as a professional and is going about it in the right way having not dropped a shot in the tournament yet.

“I am enjoying playing this course and I’m playing really well but there is still one more day to go,” said Kim, a former top amateur having won the 2004 US Junior before later attending the prestigious Stanford University, at the same time as American Michelle Wie.

“Made some nice putts on the back nine so just need to keep that going tomorrow.”

The American was in contention in both Phuket and the SMBC Singapore Open before recording top four finishes, and has not missed a cut on the Asian Tour since its restart after COVID-19 late last year.

Sadom will no doubt be a threat tomorrow having claimed Singapore’s National Open last month.

Said the 23 year old: “[On being 16 under] It is pretty good to play this course many under par. It was a pretty strong wind today and the greens are very difficult if you miss them, so I’m very happy with the result. I think today was windier than the first two rounds.

“In the first two rounds my driving was very good, I only missed one fairway for two days. Today it was not good, and I hit only eight fairways. But my putting was good today and it helped me a lot. I feel good, just focusing on my game and try to play my best.”

Korean Bio Kim returned a 68 and is in sole possession of fourth place six behind Chan, in what is the second event of the season on the Asian Tour.

Published on February 25, 2022

Chinese-Taipei’s Chan Shih-chang sensationally took the halfway lead in the Royal’s Cup today after acing the par-three 16^th and eagling the closing hole, a par five, at Grand Prix Golf Club.

The three-time Asian Tour winner, who led after day one with an eight-under-par 64, fired a 66 to lead on 14 under by two from Thailand’s Jakraphan Premsirigorn and American Sihwan Kim, who shot 62 and 65 respectively.

Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana, winner of the SMBC Singapore Open last month, is a stroke further back after shooting 67, in the second event of the season on the Asian Tour.

Chan started poorly and went out in one over, seemingly out of the running, before his phenomenal closing stretch of holes which also included birdies on 14 and 15.

The 35 year old holed out with a seven iron from 173 yards on the 16^th, for which he won a Toyota Camry 2.5 HEV Premium. It’s the second time he has made a hole in one in a professional tournament. He says on the first occasion in Chinese-Taipei many years ago he won a watch, and added it’s the seventh time he has made an ace.

“I really wasn’t expecting to ace the 16th,” said Chan.

“I did hit it to within one foot on the par-three 12th for birdie but my tee shots haven’t been that straight today. So, I really wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t see the ball go in. I heard a sound and I thought it just hit the flagstick but then I heard Berry’s [Henson] group and the caddies cheering on the 17th tee. This back nine 29 is my new personal best. Also, 14-under for two days is my lowest so far.”

He won the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship in November, which was the Asian Tour’s first event back after a 20-month break caused by the pandemic, but he’s struggled to find his form until this week.

Chan Shih-chang eagled the 18^th after two brilliant shots to reach the green was followed by an eight foot putt.

He added: “The turning point came heading into the back nine. It was less windy in the afternoon too so that was an advantage. I was just aiming to shoot two under today because I didn’t start well and I wasn’t confident with my putting. Didn’t expect the ball to go in on 16, really.”

Jakraphan shot the lowest round of the week so far after making nine birdies and one eagle. Preferred lies were played so it could not stand as a course record.

“My putting was really great today,” said the Thai golfer, a winner on the Asian Development Tour in 2013 in Malaysia.

“When I hit the ball on the green, I made every birdie putt and when I missed the green, I can still make par. I had a backache coming into this week so today is very satisfying.”

Kim has come close to winning over the past few months, including finishing fourth in the Blue Canyon event and tied fourth in Singapore’s National Open.

But he says he’s not putting pressure on himself to claim what will be his first win as a professional.

“I try not to think about. I try and go day by day, shot by shot. Playing pretty well right now so hopefully that will continue on and hope for the best,” said the American.

‘In golf you have just got to be patient. You could be three or four behind, but catch a hot back nine on the last day, so you can’t get frustrated.”

Sadom says he has put his win in Singapore well and truly behind him as he focuses on winning more titles.

“I have changed already, now is a new season, I think only about the present now,” said the 23 year old, who is familiar with the Grand Prix course as he practised here with the Thailand national squad several years ago.

“You really have to play well off the tee to score well here and I did that today. It feels good.”

He moved into contention again thanks to six birdies and just one bogey.

“I have missed only one fairway over the first two days. I had a lot of chances to make birdie even though this course is difficult,” he added.