Asian Tour Book 2024

he almost chipped in for an eagle for a grandstand finish. Suteepat, who also plays on the local tour in Taiwan and had three top-10s in four starts during their season, said: “I love Taiwan! I have a lot of friends who have graduated from the Asian Development Tour to the Asian Tour. I am comfortable here and it is great fun. “It was tough today, because of the wind and good players following me. I Suteepat Prateeptienchai [far left] was pushed all the way by former winner John Catlin [left]. saw Catlin’s score and then got nervous. Got into trouble on the 15th, where I went over the green and then found a greenside bunker on the 16th. But I kept thinking I was still the leader, and I must hold on. “This means a lot… an exemption for two years is amazing!” The weather over the weekend was tough with wind and rain, and Catlin, who recorded his first win on the Asian Tour in April 2017 at the same tournament, felt he handled the conditions well. “I just kept having fun and enjoying playing golf. It was windy, it was difficult, it was rainy… I think we pretty much saw every possible weather out there. I handled it pretty well. I guess my years in Europe paid off,” said Catlin, who opened up a huge lead of 1,146.83 points on the Merit list with the finish. “I hit the ball much better today than I did on Saturday and that gave me a lot more chances. I was able to convert a couple of them and I hit a couple stone dead, which always helps.” The 29-year-old Tabuena, who was looking for his fourth win on the Asian Tour, revealed he played the tournament with pain in his left thumb. The in-form golfer, who came into the tournament with three top 10s in his last five starts, said: “It was good, but I was fighting a bit of pain on my left thumb again. It started on Wednesday, so I was just trying to take care of it. “Golf is a funny sport and if you don’t focus on your actual game, you can do great things sometimes. I am happy with the way I played.” Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po (67) was the best finisher from the home country with a solo fourth. Korea’s latest star Yubin Jang, who was handpicked by Iron Heads GC captain Kevin Na to join his LIV Golf League team later in the year and has three wins in his home country, showed a glimpse of his massive talent when he aced the par- three eighth with an eight iron from 185 yards on Saturday. The 22-year-old Jang eventually finished tied 20th after a disappointing double bogey on the last on Sunday. 89 Y E A NGDER T PC L I N KO U I N T E R N AT I ON A L GO L F A N D CO U N T RY C L U B S E P T EM B E R 2 6 - 2 9 | P R I Z E MON E Y: U S $ 1 M I L L I ON