Magnificent six bound for the U.S. Open
Sentosa, Singapore, June 11: Six of the most promising players from the Asian Tour have set their sights on mounting a strong challenge at the 119th edition of the U.S. Open which tees off at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Thursday.
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who is currently ranked 46th in the world, is expected to fly the Asian flag alongside fellow Asian Tour members that include India’s Anirban Lahiri, South Africa’s Justin Harding, Australia’s Marcus Fraser and the Japanese duo of Kodai Ichihara and Mikumu Horikawa at the year’s third Major.
Kiradech, the 2013 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, is making his third appearance at the U.S. Open and his 15th place finish at Shinnecock Hills last year remains his best result at a Major so far.
As the first Thai golfer to earn a PGA TOUR card for the 2018/19 PGA TOUR season, Kiradech has already notched two top-five results so far and is optimistic of rediscovering his best form.
“It has been a huge learning curve for me, and I feel I can do even better. I’m trying to get my best form back by practicing hard and playing well. Hopefully that next big break will come along,” said Kiradech.
Like Kiradech, Lahiri is also an Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, having won the prestigious title in 2015.
The Indian punched his ticket to his third U.S. Open appearance through the sectional qualifying in Columbus, Ohio last week.
Lahiri missed the cut in his previous two appearances at the U.S. Open in 2015 and 2016 and is determined to make his mark at the only Major where he has yet to make the halfway cut.
“It doesn’t feel good to watch majors from home so definitely a new perspective heading to the U.S. Open. Safe to say, I’m hungry to play well in the big events. I’m looking forward to heading to Pebble Beach,” said Lahiri.
Harding, a two-time Asian Tour winner, will be hoping to demonstrate the same consistency that led him to a notable tied-12th finish at the Masters Tournament in April.
The South African, who first created an impression during this rookie year on the Asian Tour when he won back-to-back titles in Indonesia and Thailand last year, could spring yet another surprise in his debut at the U.S. Open.
“I’ve shown more consistency in my game and I’ve become a little better mentally. I’m no longer really going through the highs and lows and emotional roller coaster, so to speak.
“But that also comes in not really playing the aggressive mindset game that I had in the past. I’m just trying to get a little bit smarter on the golf course and making less mistakes,” said Harding.
Fraser will meanwhile be making his fourth appearance at the U.S. Open, having teed up in 2007, 2013 and 2015 while Ichihara and Horikawa were rewarded with their debuts after earning their places at the sectional qualifying on home soil.
Chinese Taipei’s T.C. Chen’s tied-second finish in 1985 remains as the best result for an Asian player at the U.S. Open.
50% of the prize money earned by Asian Tour members at the U.S. Open will be counted towards the Order of Merit.
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By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
The Championship
Founded in 1895 the U.S. Open Championship is the second oldest Major after The Open Championship, and this year’s edition will be the 119th staging of the event.
Prize money for 2019 will be $12.5 million, the biggest purse in any of the four Major Championships.
No Asian player has won the U.S. Open in the in the history of the event. The closest was T.C. Chen of Taiwan who finished tied-second in 1985 at Oakland Hills after leading by three shots going into the last round.
The last first-time player to win the championship was Francis Ouimet (as an amateur) at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts back in 1913.
The Course
Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California. Par-71, 7,075 yards.
One of the most iconic golf courses in the world, and possibly the most scenic, Pebble Beach Golf Links has been the venue for scores of tour events and major championships since it opened in 1919.
In addition to playing host to five U.S Opens, it has most notably been the site of the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1929, 1947, 1961, 1999 and 2018, the PGA Championship in 1977, and the AT&T Pro-Am on the PGATOUR from 1947 to present day.
This will be the sixth time that The U.S. Open Championship is played at Pebble Beach, and past champions here include legendary players such as Jack Nicklaus (1972), Tom Watson (1982), Tom Kite (1992), and Tiger Woods (2000).
The last time the U.S. Open was held at Pebble Beach was in 2010 when Graeme McDowell held off Gregory Havret to win by one shot on a total score of even-par 284.
While Augusta has its famous Amen corner (11-13), Pebble as it’s often referred to, has its own stretch of key holes known as the Cliffs of Doom (8-10) perched perilously overlooking the Pacific Ocean and beach below.
It also has what is probably the shortest hole in Major Championship golf, the quirky par-three seventh that played to only 92 yards in the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open.
U.S. Opens are well known for very difficult course set-ups and demand a thorough examination of players’ skills, this year will surely prove no exception.
There is a famous quote from USGA’s Sandy Tatum after “The Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974: “we’re not trying to humiliate the best players in the world, we’re simply trying to identify who they are”. This probably says it all about what they are looking for in their National Open.
Deep rough will penalize tee-shots that stray from the fairways by even a few yards, with Cost of Rough measured at just over half-a-shot over-par during the 2010 championship. Accuracy off the tee will be key this week.
As will of course hitting the greens in regulation. Missing greens by the smallest of margins will leave a tough task of saving par for the same reason as above, plus the fact that the greens will most likely be very firm and lightning fast.
The poa annua grass on the greens will also be a big factor. A notoriously difficult putting surface that players will most likely find nowhere near as smooth and true as at the first two Majors this year, especially in late afternoons.
The course will likely be a tale of two nines as it was in 2010. Players will be looking at the outward half as the side where they can make up shots and the back nine where they hang-on to any gains.
Holes one through nine played to an average score of +1.25, while on holes 10 through 18 that number was +2.73. A difference of almost 1.5 strokes.
The difference was even more noticeable if you looked at holes one through seven vs. eight through 18 where the difference was +.56 compared to +3.42.
The average score that year was 74.98 or almost four-over-par.
The Favorites
Brooks Koepka (USA)
The winner of the PGA Championship last month at Bethpage Black and tied-second at the Masters Tournament in April, Koepka totally fits the mold for a U.S. Open champion. A no-nonsense player that grinds and goes about his business when others may start to let the sometimes-brutal conditions wear them down.
He has won the Championship the last two years in a row and has a chance to be the first three-peat winner since Willie Anderson in 1903 to 1905, one of only four four-time winners of the U.S. Open (Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus).
Dustin Johnson (USA)
A two-time winner this year capturing the Saudi International and WGC-Mexico Championship, he also finished second at the PGA Championship and tied-second at the Masters Tournament. A Johnson victory would be a big story of redemption this week, not only for the two Major runners-up this year, but also for the last time the event was held at Pebble Beach.
Leading by three going into the final round in 2010, the winner of the 2016 U.S. Open let the tournament slip away from him by shooting 82 in the final round.
Starting round four par, triple, double, bogey he let a host of other players back into the tournament right from the start and eventually finished in a tie for eighth place.
Johnson does have a very good record at Pebble, having won the AT&T Pro-Am in 2009 and 2010 and finished tied-second in 2014 and 2018.
Tiger Woods (USA)
When Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, he did so by the biggest winning margin in U.S. Open history. A total score of 12-under-par was good for a 15-stroke victory over Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ernie Els.
That U.S. Open was also the first leg of the “Tiger Slam”, where he famously won the four Majors in a row although not in the same season. The closest anyone has come to winning the modern Grand Slam of the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open Championship and The Open Championship in the same calendar year.
Already a three-time winner of the Championship in 2000, 2002 and 2008, this year’s Masters champion has a chance to tie the record for U.S. Opens won (four) and to win his 16th major, two short of Jack Nicklaus all-time-record of 18.
The Asian Tour Players
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA)
This will be the 2013 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion’s third start in the U.S. Open, and in the 2018 edition 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.
In his first full season as a PGATOUR member Kiradech has recorded two top-five finishes so far: a tied-third in the WGC-Mexico Championship and a tied-fifth at the AT&T Byron Nelson.
Currently ranked 61st in the FedEx Cup standings, and with over $1.5 Million in prize money, he should have already secured his playing rights for the 2020 PGATOUR season.
Justin Harding (RSA)
After a successful rookie season on the Asian tour in 2018 when he won the Bank BRI Indonesia Open and Royal Cup in consecutive events, Harding went on to win the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on the European Tour early this season. His fifth world-wide win since the start of 2018.
Since then, he has spent most of his time on the PGA TOUR and notably finished tied-12th in his first Masters Tournament appearance to earn an invitation back to Augusta next year.
Harding will be playing in his first U.S. Open this week and should be ready and well rested after a few weeks away from tournament golf.
His performance statistics from the PGA TOUR also speak in his favor as Harding is currently ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting and fifth in Driving Accuracy. Two categories that will be very important this week at Pebble Beach.
Anirban Lahiri (IND)
The 2015 Asian Tour Order of Merit winner qualified for the championship by finishing second in the sectional qualifier in Columbus, Ohio last week. This will be Lahiri’s third U.S. Open and he will be hoping to redeem his previous two missed cuts in 2015 and 2016.
His best result on the 2019 PGATOUR schedule is a tied-10th in the Mayakoba Golf Classic late last year, but he has shown signs of a return to form with good first-round scores in his last two events.
Marcus Fraser (AUS)
Fraser had his best year on the Asian Tour in 2016 when he won the Maybank Championship and had three other top-10 results. A highlight of that year was also representing Australia in the Rio Olympics where he finished tied-fifth.
Qualifying for this week by finishing tied-third in the sectional qualifier at Walton Heath Golf Club in England, this will be Fraser’s fourth start in a U.S. Open after playing the event in 2007, 2013 and 2015.
He will be hoping to improve on his previous best result which was a tied-45th back in 2007.
Kodai Ichihara (JPN)
A two-time champion in his home country in 2018, Ichihara won the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament and the JGT Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills to finish fourth on the Japan Tour (JGTO) Money Rankings. His best season since turning pro in 2001.
Winning the Japan sectional qualifier earned the 37-year-old his first appearance in a U.S. Open and fourth Major over-all.
Mikumu Horikawa (JPN)
As with his compatriot above, Horikawa had the best season of his career last year when he finished 19th on the Japan Tour Money Rankings and was the runner up to Ichihara at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament.
The U.S. Open will be marking his Major debut after securing a place in the field by grabbing the last spot available in a play-off at the Japan sectional qualifier.
Coming into this week in great form having just captured his first Japan Tour title by winning last week’s JGT Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills by four shots.
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After nine events played and about a third of the way through the 2019 schedule, Olle Nordberg takes a look at some of the key statistics and see which players have been performing well throughout the first few months of the season.
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
*Note from the Author: In order to make the stats more valid we need a reasonable sample size, so for this exercise I have required eight rounds completed as a minimum for a player’s data to count in the rankings.
In addition to the official Asian Tour stat categories, I have also added a combination-stat Total Driving (Driving Distance + Driving Accuracy) which is not listed on the website.
Driving Distance
That the old saying “drive for show and putt for dough” has lost at least some of its relevancy in the modern game is no secret, we can just look at the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) to see what kind of players are ranked at and near the top.
On the Asian Tour, the current Driving Distance leader is power player Kurt Kitayama who used his length off the tee to help him win last year’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, which he followed up a few months later with a victory at the Oman Open on the European Tour in March.
There are also two more recent Asian Tour winners in the top-10 in this category: the current Habitat for Humanity Standings leader and 2016 Order of Merit champion Scott Hend, who by winning the Maybank Championship in March became the most successful international player on the Asian Tour with 10 victories, and Q-School graduate Zach Murray who won the 100th New Zealand Open in only his third start on the Asian Tour.
Driving Accuracy
Category leader Adilson Da Silva has not won yet in 2019, but he recorded his first ever Asian Tour victory last year in the Mercuries Taiwan Masters on a course that demands precision off the tee. His accuracy has been very impressive so far this season, only missing an average of roughly two fairways per round.
The closest anyone in the top-10 of this category has been to a win this season is Ajeetesh Sandhu finishing second in the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open in Bangladesh, only one shot behind the winner Sadom Kaewkanjana.
Total Driving
A combination-stat that is a very good measure of a player’s over-all driving performance by combining Driving Distance and Accuracy.
The 2018 Fiji International champion Gaganjeet Bhullar has shown remarkable driving skills with both length and precision off the tee, ranking in the top-10 in both individual categories.
This list also includes Scott Hend, and a player who has been the most consistent high performer on the 2019 Asian Tour, Jazz Janewattananond.
Winning twice on the Asian Tour prior to this year, Jazz opened his season with a victory at the SMBC Singapore Open and followed it up with a fourth in the 100th New Zealand Open, third at the Maybank Championship, tied-fifth at Bangabandhu Cup and a tied-14th at the recent PGA Championship.
Greens in Regulation (GIR)
Hitting greens in regulation is of course very important for consistently shooting good scores, the more greens you hit the more putts for birdies you will have.
As mentioned above, category leader Jazz has had quite the start to the season and perhaps it’s easy to see why when we consider his Total Driving stats in combination with his GIR percentage. Missing only four greens a round on average makes for a lot of birdie chances.
In addition to Jazz, five other players in these two categories overlap: Gaganjeet Bhullar, Scott Hend, Shaun Norris and Gavin Green. It should be safe to say that rankings in these two categories are closely related.
Scrambling
Getting it up-and-down when missing the green can be very important for maintaining momentum when playing well, or to minimize damage on a day when things are not going your way.
Current leader Rashid Khan has done this nearly three-quarters of the time this season, and it may be one of the reasons why he has recorded top-10 finishes in both his Asian Tour starts this season: a third-place finish in the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open and a tied-10th in the Hero Indian Open.
Jazz is also ranked highly in this category, adding to his already solid over-all game this season.
Putts per Green in Regulation
In my opinion a much better way of measuring putting performance than Putts per Round, since that number will likely look increasingly better the less greens a player hits in regulation.
The 2014 Order of Merit champion David Lipsky has posted some very solid putting stats in his two appearances this year, the Maybank Championship and the Volvo China Open, finishing tied-fifth in China and a tied-13th in Malaysia.
A close second is tour rookie Sadom Kaewkanjana who won the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open in his first start after graduating from Q-School, a feat never accomplished before on the Asian Tour.
Fellow tournament winners Zach Murray and Scott Hend are also currently in the top-10, proving that they are not only powerful off the tee but have great touch on the greens as well.
Ibaraki, Japan, June 3: Asian Tour stalwart Yuta Ikeda captured his 21st victory on the Japan Golf Tour after closing with a one-under-par 71 to win by one shot over American Chan Kim at the Gate Way to The Open Mizuno Open on Sunday.
The 33-year-old Ikeda, who has won at least a tournament in every single season on his domestic circuit since breaking through in 2009, also earned a coveted spot for The 148th Open, where he will be making his eighth and fifth consecutive appearance at Royal Portrush next month.
Ikeda, a two-time Asian Tour winner, fired five birdies against four bogeys to compile a four-day total of seven-under-par 281 at the Royal Country Club located in Ibaraki Prefecture, north of Tokyo, which played to a distance of 8,016 yards in the third round.
Chan matched Ikeda’s final round efforts to settle for runner-up finish while Asian Tour members Sanghyun Park of Korea and Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul posted impressive rounds of 67 and 68 respectively to share third place on matching 284s.
The trio also punched their tickets to The 148th Open by virtue of being the leading four players who finish in the top-12 and ties and not already exempt at The Mizuno Open, which is part of The Open Qualifying Series.
Rising star Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand, a three-time Asian Tour winner, kept up his chase for a spot in the upcoming U.S. Open by closing with a 71 to finish in a share of fifth place at The Mizuno Open.
The 23-year-old Jazz, who was ranked 70th place on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) last week, needs to break into top-60 on the world ranking by June 10 to qualify for the year’s third Major championship at Pebble Beach.
Over at the Belgian Knockout, 2017 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Gavin Green of Malaysia secured a credible fifth place finish to mark his best result yet on the European Tour this season.
Green, who was tied in seventh place after two rounds of stroke-play, battled his way into the round of 16 on Saturday where he defeated home favourite Thomas Detry by one shot to get into the quarter-finals of the nine-hole medal match play on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Green failed to qualify for the semi-finals after losing to Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson by one shot at the Rinkven International Golf Club in Antwerp but would take pride in his solid result, which also marks his fourth top-10 finish in 56 starts on the European Tour.
At the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide 2019, Thai star Kiradech Aphibarnrat signed for a two-under-par 70 to settle for a share of 17th place at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
After firing four birdies to turn in 32, Kiradech dropped a shot on the 10th before recovering with a birdie on 15th. The 30-year-old Thai, however, stumbled with a double-bogey on 16 to end his campaign 13 shots back of winner Patrick Cantlay.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand
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