Freshly-minted Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Joohyung Kim.

Major champions and Ryder Cup stars abound in the star-studded field for this week’s 4th Saudi International but watch for a pair of preciously talented teens at the Asian Tour’s $5 million season-opener.

By Kent Gray
The same weekend Hideki Matsuyama was enriching his reputation as the Emperor of Asian golf with a walk-off, extra-time eagle to win the Sony Open in Hawaii, the coronation of the continent’s next gen was quietly taking place in Singapore.

The rise and rise of Joohyung Kim continued apace at the Singapore International as the 19-year-old Korean captured his second Asian Tour title with a gritty playoff birdie. Solo third at tricky Tanah Merah Country Club, meanwhile, was Thai phenom Ratchanon Chantananuwat, a 14-year-old who humbly exudes the self-belief of a grizzled tour veteran.

Matsuyama, still only 29 himself, understandably hogged the headlines with his eighth PGA Tour title and a second since bringing great honour to Japan by winning the 2021 Masters. In a similar vein, the rock star PGA and DP World Tour players headed to King Abdullah Economic City will undoubtedly draw the majority of attention as the 4th PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers plays out from Feb. 3-6.

But don’t be surprised to see the likes of Kim and Chantananuwat feature at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. The occasion – the Asian Tour’s $5 million 2022 season opener with a best in circuit history field including the likes of Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Olympic champion Xander Schauffele- could and probably should get the better of the teens.

Discount the lesser known Asian Tour players at your peril, though. Kim will arrive in the Kingdom as the freshly-minted Asian Tour No.1 after a pandemic disrupted season of dizzying consistency. In the eight events spanning the Hong Kong Open of January 2020 and SMBC Singapore Open of January 2022, the Seoul pro rattled off results of T18, 4th, 4th, T84 (for a sole missed cut), T2,  T7, 1st and T2.

In between times, Kim twice won on the Korean PGA Tour and become the youngest winner of his home circuit’s Order of Merit title with a swing so compact you could almost capture it in a bottle. Indeed, Kim is an iron striker of rare ability which perhaps over emphasises the only noticeable fallibility in his game in recent months – the odd putt missed from short range. When you hit it so close so often, the putter invariably can’t cooperate every time.

Kim has secured a start in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open in early March but will be focused on footing it with the superstars in Saudi first and maintaining his steady rise up the world rankings – to a career best 79 after the Singapore Open. He sprung to prominence by capturing the Panasonic Indian Open in 2019 in just this third Asian Tour start after winning a “battlefield” promotion to the main circuit following three Asian Development Tour wins. It made him the second youngest player to win on the Asian Tour at 17 years and 149 days; countryman Seungyul Noh bettered that by six days when he captured the 2008 Midea China Classic.

“It’s all happening really fast, you know,” said Kim after his Singapore Int. triumph.

“Winning the Korean Order of Merit [was] definitely a goal of mine last year and [I’m] very fortunate to achieve it. Obviously very fortunate [now] to have that second win. It’s been a while since I won on the Asian Tour with COVID and stuff so very pleased and hopefully we can get a lot more…”

If the Asian Tour is proud of Kim’s ascension, it is positively giddy with anticipation about Chantananuwat’s emergence. And why not. 

Chantananuwat,
just 14, has made four successive Asian Tour cuts.

Nicknamed ‘TK’ (the initials of his parents including father and caddie Tara), Chantananuwat gave hint of his ability by finishing T15 and T30 in the Asian Tour’s Phuket double-header at Blue Canyon and Laguna Phuket before Christmas. He played the weekend at Blue Canyon 11 under par after becoming the third youngest player to make the cut (on the number) in an Asian Tour event. As impressive as that was in home conditions, it was another matter altogether teeing it up in his first professional event on foreign soil at the Singapore International early last month. Unfazed despite again suffering from heat stroke in the early rounds, Chantananuwat held the lead at the turn in both the third and final rounds and joined only Kim and runner-up Rattanon Wannasrichan in red figures after a devilishly tough week around the windswept Tampines layout at Tanah Merah.

Had he not played the back nine on Saturday in a frustrating 41 strokes, history could easily record the Thai teen as the youngest ever winner of a OWGR event and even a main tour event, records respectively set by Dubai’s own Josh Hill (15 years, 6 months, 27 days) in the MENA Tour’s Al Ain Open in 2019, and by Atthaya Thitkul who won the LETs 2017 Thailand Open at 14 years, 4 months and 19 days.

A week later Chantananuwat was at it again, sensationally outscoring playing partner and tournament drawcard Paul Casey 68 to 76 on a challenging Thursday on the Serapong course at Sentosa. The 270 yard three-wood he shaped into the water-hugged par-5 7th in that opening round, before coolly draining a downhill right to left putt for eagle from 12-foot, was a thing of beauty.

“I’m looking forward to trying to catch him over the weekend,” said Casey, pointing towards Chantananuwat after the teen had made his fourth successive cut with rounds of 68-74 to be two shots to the good of the 15-time DP World Tour winner and five-time Ryder Cupper through 36 holes.

“I’m just going to say he’s way ahead of me when I was 14. He’s got a great future.”

Most amateurs are happy to tee it up in professional events let alone survive the weekend. But Chantananuwat is different, a by-product of an upbringing that has included golf since the age of 3½.

After the genuine disappointment of letting an unlikely victory slip at Tanah Merah, he set his sights on winning at Sentosa and, as a minimum, on claiming one of the four 150th Open Championship spots on offer at the season finale (Kim achieved that with his joint runner-up finish, amends for being unable to play last year’s Open at Royal St. George’s via the same qualifying route due to COVID-19 travel restrictions). At 14, it’s not about experience gathering for Chantananuwat. It’s already about winning and on initial inspection, he seems to have the game to match the ambition. Goodness knows what he will achieve when he physically matures.  

“When I’m in the zone, I think — all I see is my ball and the hole and what’s in between. I just go on feel,” Chantananuwat said. “Sometimes my swing could look one way and I still hit it, like, really good because sometimes I [can] compensate.”

The challenge now for everyone responsible for Chantananuwat’s development is to ensure burnout is avoided. Returning to lessons at Shrewsbury International School in Bangkok will ice the increasingly high expectations somewhat but it’s clear he’s on a carefully choreographed career path.

“I’m only at this stage, really fast at 14, because my Dad has had really high expectations and whenever I accomplish something he just moves on to the next thing. He has goals that other kids or parents don’t even think of,” Chantananuwat said.

“The only thing he believes in is hitting balls,” the teen continued with a wry smile. “Golf, the more you practice, the better you get and the luckier you get. The harder you practice, you get rewarded. Maybe it’s not just 10 good shots in a row but it’s a kick off the fringe, like really close to the hole. That’s what hard work gets you.”

Chantananuwat was unable to secure his ticket to St Andrews, eventually settling for a share of 34th place at Sentosa, 14 strokes behind eventual winner Sadom Kaewkanjana who is another Thai on a tear. But the way he negotiated the final four events of the 2020-21-22 season, don’t be surprised if the kid becomes a familiar name on major championship leaderboards in the not too distant future.

Before then, count on Chantananuwat repaying the special invitee favour at the beginning of a new era for the Asian Tour with another confident display in Saudi, notwithstanding the reputations of the superstars surrounding him on the range. Belief breeds confidence and in his case, confidence can seemingly trump inexperience.  

After all the glitz and glamour of the Asian Tour’s new “flagship” Saudi International, and perhaps after a bit of catch-up school work, Chantananuwat shapes as a future standard bearer for circuit emboldened by a well-documented $200 million Saudi investment. Will he or Kim become the next Matsuyama? It’s far too early to call. But the future with players the ilk of the Korean and Thai teens looks bright.

The PGA and DP World Tour stars will come and go but at least the Asian production line is whirring back into life after a 20-month pandemic enforced shutdown. It’s clear Kim and Chantananuwat are already up and running, forcing all those ancient 20 and 30-somethings on tour to lift their games. And that, for all the naysayers, is growing the game in a region determined to become a giant finally awoken.