Hong Kong, January 8: Tour stars, officials and key stakeholders gathered to celebrate a successful 2019 season at the Asian Tour Awards Ceremony which was held ahead of the season-opening Hong Kong Open this week.

Thai sensation Jazz Janewattananond bagged a total of four awards, which include the coveted 2019 Order of Merit crown and the prestigious Players’ Player of the Year accolade.

The 24-year-old Jazz also topped the statistics categories for Lowest Stroke Average with his record of 68.28 strokes and Total Birdies made with 265 from a total of 15 tournaments throughout his season on the Asian Tour.

Jazz was the toast of the 2019 season as he capped a phenomenal year with four victories and six top-10s which saw him break US$1million in total earnings and rise to career-high of 40^th place on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).

He is the youngest player to claim six victories on the Asian Tour and only the second player to secure four wins in a single season in the Tour’s history.

“It’s an honour to win the Players’ Player of the Year award. I’m glad the players think I deserve this award. Thanks to all my friends for voting and making me feel worthy of this award,” said Jazz at the Awards Gala which was held at the Courtyard by Marriott in Sha Tin on Tuesday evening.

Sadom Kaewkanjana was named the Rookie of the Year after collecting the most OWGR points from Asian Tour events amongst the newcomers in 2019. The 20-year-old Thai, who came through the Qualifying School, won on his very first start on Tour at the 2019 Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open in Bangladesh.

Adilson Da Silva of Brazil was the most accurate off the tee (84.17%) in 2019 while Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert, who won his second Asian Tour title at the Sabah Masters last November, hits it the furthest with an average drive of 307.50 yards.

Sattaya Supupramai of Thailand emerged as the top scrambler after converting 71.20% of his missed greens in regulation to save par in 2019. Finland’s Teemu Putkonen, on the other hand, hit the most greens in regulation (75%).

Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-lun, who successfully kept his card by finishing inside top-60 on the 2019 Order of Merit, rode the hottest putter as he averaged 27.55 putts per round last season.

The Best Spectator Experience award went to Shinhan Donghae Open, a popular event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Korean PGA Tour, as an acknowledgement for its digital initiative and activities catered for fans.

The SMBC Singapore Open was voted by the players as the Tournament of the Year and its host venue Sentosa Golf Club, recently named the ‘World’s Best Golf Course’ at the annual World Golf Awards last October, was also ranked the number one golf course by the players.

The 2020 Asian Tour season gets underway at the Hong Kong Open on Thursday. The US$1 million event is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Hong Kong Golf Association, with the European Tour continuing to stage the tournament and it will be held once again at the Hong Kong Golf Club.

2019 Roll of Honour

Order of Merit champion – Jazz Janewattananond (Tha)

Players’ Player of the Year – Jazz Janewattananond (Tha)

Rookie of the Year – Sadom Kaewkanjana (Tha)

Lowest Stroke Average – Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), 68.28

Total Birdies – Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), 265

Driving Accuracy – Adilson Da Silva (Bra), 84.17%

Driving Distance – Pavit Tangkamolprasert (Tha), 307.50 yards

Scrambling – Sattaya Supupramai (Tha), 71.20%

Lowest Putting Average per round – Wang Wei-lun (Tpe), 27.55

Greens in Regulation – Teemu Putkonen (Fin), 75.38%

Players’ choice Golf Course of the Year – Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore

Tournament of the Year – SMBC Singapore Open

Best Spectator Experience – Shinhan Donghae Open

Ends.

Tony Finau (Usa)
I’m really excited to be here in Hong Kong. It’s my first time. I just played the golf course for the first time and I think it’s going to be a great test. I’m enjoying my time here. I feel like I’m well rounded, so I look forward to the test. It’s a short golf course, if you hit it in the fairway and hole some putts you could be holding the trophy at the end of the week. My coach and I talk about it all the time. There are three things which we don’t want to be doing on the golf course, panic, don’t panic and don’t panic. We brought that up at the Presidents cup. Obviously we were down as a team and I was down in my match against Hideki Matsuyama but I just have that attitude that don’t panic, keep going and anything can happen.

Shane Lowry (Ire)
It’s a dream come true to win The Open, there’s no point saying that it’s not, cause as a kid I probably never envisioned doing it. And to do it in my own country as well was so very special.
I’ve been on Tour for.. This is my 12th season starting this year and I’ve only won five times, so golf is a game where you lose a lot more than you win. So, when you win you really have to enjoy it, especially something very special like I did last summer.
I have played here twice, in 2009 and 2010 and it’s good to be back in Hong Kong, I’m very excited and looking forward to the week. I played the golf course today and it’s great so hopefully it will be a good week. It’s my first tournament of the year and hopefully I can go out and shoot some good scores.

Press conference with Jazz Janewattananond of 61st Edition Hong Kong Open at Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling, New Territories, Hong Kong, on 8 January 2020, Hong Kong SAR, China. Photo by : Ike Li / Ike Images

Jazz Janewattananond (Tha)

I always enjoy coming back to Hong Kong as it’s one of my favourite places to visit in Asia. I always like to come here but a vacation without my golf bag but each time I’m here, I’m always carry along my golf bag. It was definitely a great year for me last year as I started off with a win and ended off with another win. I didn’t play that well in the middle of the year but I’m glad I managed to regain my form towards the end of the year. My short-term goal now is to break into the top-30 in the world. My track record at the Hong Kong Golf Club has not been very good over the years. But I’m in better form now and hopefully I can produce some magic this week. The composite course here is one of the toughest short golf courses in the world. The winning total is always more than 15-under-par so that says a lot and I need to find a way of playing this golf course better. I think I’ll try to be more conservative and play it safer and not so aggressive during the first two days to make the cut first. Once that’s done, I’ll see if I can go even lower during the weekend.

Scott Hend (Aus)

The Hong Kong Open is one of my favourite tournaments anywhere in the world, any week of the year. This is such a unique golf course, it’s tricky with the winds and hitting it into the greens but I love playing here. I like to keep winning and that is what drive me every day. I’m going to donate hundred dollars of my own money for every birdie and $300 for every eagle that I make this week to the RSPCA to help those poor little kola bears and kangaroos. It’s quite upsetting we have lost quite a lot of wild animals that have either been killed or injured in Australia. 

Prom Meesawat (Tha)

I’ve several feel-good memories about this golf course. I came close in 2013 and Miguel got the better of me that year. But it’s nice to come back and try for another shot at glory again. I want to start my 2020 season well especially having taken a nice three-week break with my family. I’m still looking for my next win on the Asian Tour and stay inside the top-five on the Order of Merit. It has been six years and it’s a really long time. I’m enjoying my fatherhood with my kids now and sometimes I wish I can stay home a lot more to spend time with them. But I still have my duty on the golf course and I got to manage my time a lot better now.

Shiv Kapur (Ind)
I’m feeling good about my game and it’s always nice to come back to a familiar golf course where I had a fair amount of success. It’s a new time of the year for us to play the Hong Kong Open in January. It’s fantastic, the golf course is in very good shape, the greens are rolling beautifully. The winds come in different directions and it’s going to be a good challenge. It’s the Olympics year and I’m on the brink of qualification so I need a few good weeks to get there. It has always been a dream of mine to play in the Olympics especially after I won the gold medal at the Asian Games in 2002.

Pattaya, Thailand, December 22: Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond signed off from his 2019 Asian Tour season just like the way he started when he cruised to a commanding five-shot victory at the Thailand Masters on Sunday.

It has been a stunning year for the 24-year-old as he triumphed again for the second time in two weeks after closing with a six-under-par 65 at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club.

Jazz got off to a flying start when he won the Asian Tour’s season-opener in Singapore in January. 12 months later, he would end the year by capturing his sixth Asian Tour title and fourth this season on home soil.

Jazz’s winning total of 23-under-par 261 at a venue which he won before too meant he will break into the top-40 on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), a target he had set out to achieve at the start of the week.

Compatriot Suradit Yongcharoenchai tried to surmount a late challenge by firing seven birdies and one eagle for a 62 but it was still not enough to catch the 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion on a day where he was simply unstoppable.

Surdait ended his last event of the year by sharing second place with compatriot Phachara Khongwatmai and Belgium’s Thomas Detry while American Berry Henson also enjoyed his second top-10 of 2019 with a tied-seventh finish at the Thailand Masters.

PATTAYA-THAILAND – Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand pictured on Sunday December 22 during the final round of the Thailand Masters, promoted by the Jaidee Foundation at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club, Pattaya, Thailand – December 19-22, 2019, a USD$ 500.000 Asian Tour event. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

Did you know?

• With this win Jazz Janewattanond will become only the second player in Asian Tour history to win four events in the same season. The only player to do so previously was compatriot Thaworn Wiratchant in 2005.
• The Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club was the scene of Jazz’s second Asian Tour win when he emerged victorious at the Queen’s Cup presented by Bangchak last year.
• He will also surpass US$1,000,000 in earnings this season. Before Jazz this had only been achieved by Jeev Milkha Singh (2008), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (2013), Anirban Lahiri (2015) and Scott Hend (2016).
• In a final round of six-under-par 65 that included eight birdies, Jazz one-putted 13 times and only needed 24 putts. He also ranked first in the field in putts per greens-in-regulation for the week.
• In his last two events on the Asian Tour this season, Jazz is a combined 46-under-par, an average of -5.75 or 65.75 per round.
• Shooting a round of 11-under-par 60 in yesterday’s third round, he equaled the lowest ever round in an official Asian Tour event.
• This week is Jazz’s 35th tournament played in 2019. The only other player in the top-100 on the OWGR that has player who has played as many events is Sungjae Im of Korea.
• By winning the last event of the Asian Tour season Jazz will go to 40th on the OWGR, one week after cracking the world top-50 for the first time in his career.
• By virtue of his phenomenal play this year Jazz will be exempt for three out of the four Majors in 2020, the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship and the Open. He has also qualified for two of the World Golf Championships- WGC-Mexico and WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
• With his tied-second finish this week Suradit Yongcharoenchai will finish fourth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with US$277,460 in earnings, easily surpassing his previous best mark of 34th in 2018.
• In today’s bogey free round of nine-under-par 62 that included one eagle and seven birdies, Suradit hit 16/18 greens-in-regulation and only had 27 putts.
• His breakthrough Asian Tour victory came at this year’s Mercuries Taiwan Master in October, winning the title by one stroke ahead of a trio of players.
• The Thai has also had two other top-10 finishes this season, with a tied-eighth at the Yeangder TPC and a tied-10th at the Classic Golf and Country International Championship.
• With his tied-second finish this week, Phachara Khongwatmai ended the year with a total of six top-10s this season
• This summer he won the GolfSixes Cascais in Portugal, a two-player team event on the European Tour, together with compatriot, and this week’s host, Thongchai Jaidee.
• Thomas Detry missed out on winning his first event on a major Tour again. He finished tied-fourth at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open just one stroke out of the playoff a fortnight ago.
• The Belgian also had a high finish in November when he came in tied-third at the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, one of European Tour’s Rolex Series events.

Ends.

Singapore, December 20: Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond has confirmed he will be returning to defend the SMBC Singapore Open title he won in stylish fashion in January.

The 24-year-old Jazz jumped 12 places to 45th in the Official World Golf Ranking – sealing a coveted spot at The Masters – after his runaway win in the Indonesian Masters, his third success on the Asian Tour this year and fifth overall.

With his confidence sky high, Jazz will take on Major winners Justin Rose of England and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, American Matt Kuchar – buoyed by securing the half point that assured the United States retained the Presidents Cup – and the finest players from the Asian and Japan Tours at Sentosa Golf Club from January 16-19, 2020.

“After winning in Singapore (SMBC Singapore Open) and breaking into the top-100, my next goal was top 50. I am really happy to achieve it. Maybe next goal is top-40?,” said Jazz after his Indonesian Masters victory.

“It’s been a very fulfilling year so I am excited about what lies ahead in 2020 (with the defence of the SMBC Singapore Open title coming early in the year).”

Jazz made a fast start to 2019 by holding off challenges from Ryder Cup men Paul Casey and Matthew Fitzpatrick and the highly rated Yoshinori Fujimoto of Japan to win the SMBC Singapore Open in January.

He became the youngest winner of the Singapore Open and his 18-under-par 266 went into the record books as the tournament’s best ever four-round total.

“I got emotional, but happy emotional (at the victory). I was like ‘wow, I actually did it’. I could not believe that I beat Paul Casey down the stretch or Matthew Fitzpatrick who was in my group. It kind of boosted the confidence in me a little bit for sure,” he said.

“The last day at (SMBC Singapore Open) has got to be my (best) round (ever). I did not think I had a chance of winning – I was (111th) in the world and never had a big win before.

“It was definitely one of the best tournaments of my life, so far.”

After his win at Sentosa Golf Club, Jazz won the Kolon Korea Open in June followed by the Indonesian Masters.

His previous victories came at the Bangladesh Open in 2017 and the Queen’s Cup on home soil in 2018, successes that marked him down as a player to watch.

Jazz, who turned professional just ahead of his 15th birthday, topped the Asian Tour moneylist for 2019 with winnings of US$968,524 ahead of this week’s season-concluding Thailand Masters.

Also during an outstanding year, Jazz tied for 14th spot at the PGA Championship and had a string of top-10 finishes on the Asian and Japan Tours.

The SMBC Singapore Open is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation.