Cup in Chiba prefecture.
South Africa’s Justin Harding
continued to make waves even on
the European Tour by winning the
Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in
March and emerged as one of the
surprise packages at The Masters
Tournament. He finished tied for
12th to earn a return ticket in 2020.
American Kurt Kitayama, also
made big strides in the Middle East
when he was crowned the Oman
Open champion. It was his second
European Tour title since winning
the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open
last December.
In prolific form, Thailand’s Jazz
finished in a creditable tied-14thplace at the PGA Championship.
It was the best result ever by a
Thai at the PGA Championship,
which moved him to a career-
high 69th place on the Official
World Golf Ranking.
Amidst the intense competition
that provided all with a great
spectacle the last several months,
new heroes have emerged with
records rewritten. Scott Hend
currently holds a slim advantage
over Jazz on the Asian Tour Order
of Merit. Slightly over US$50,000
separates the two but expect
more twist and turns when the
players return to action during the
rest of the season.victory was made even sweeter
as it was his first professional win,
achieved in what was only his third
start on the Asian Tour.
Victory at the Maybank
Championship in March
cemented Australian Scott Hend’s
status as the most successful
international golfer on the Asian
Tour when he claimed his 10th
victory in Malaysia in a play-off
over Spain’s Nacho Elvira. Hend
also became the second player,
following Thonghcai Jaidee in
2014, to surpass US$5million in
career earnings.
March saw no lack of drama
as Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher
staged a remarkable comeback
by firing three birdies in his
closing four holes to win the Hero
Indian Open.
Not to be outdone in the tale of
rookies on tour, young Thai talent
Sadom secured his 2019 Asian
Tour card in his first attempt at the
Qualifying School, and struck gold
again with his first Tour victory at
the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open.
The Asian Tour headed to East
Asia in May where an exciting
run of events in China, Korea
and Japan reignited the Order of
Merit battle.
Finland’s Mikko Korhonen
ensured his first play-off duel with
France’s Benjamin Hebert would
end in victory when he drained
an eight-foot birdie putt on the
first play-off hole to win the Volvo
China Open.
The 38th GS Caltex Maekyung
Open Golf Championship saw the
trophy being retained on home soil
again after Korea’s Taehee Lee
edged Finland’s Janne Kaske to
claim his first Asian Tour title.
Japan’s Yosuke Asaji then
delivered the perfect mother's
day gift when he held his nerve
to win the Asia-Pacific Diamond