Taiwan is fielding in a full-packed roster out to defend its turf against a crack Philippine Golf Tour Asia cast with all but one of the Top 10 in the current money rankings vying in the Daan Taiwan Open unfolding tomorrow (Thursday) at the Ching Chuan Kang Golf Club in Taichung.
Lin Guanbo, the current leader with a win and five top 10 finishes in 10 tournaments on PGA of Taiwan (TPGA), banners the hosts’ campaign in the $100,000 championship, the first PGT Asia-sanctioned tournament abroad. Joint No. 2 Lu Weizhi, also with a victory and 15 top 10 efforts in 34 events, Wang Weilun, with three wins in 37 tournaments, and Song Mengyu, Zhan Yixin and Qiu Wei, who share the No. 4 spot, are also in the fold.
The event is actually the first of two PGT Asia tournaments set in Taiwan with the Nan Pao TPGA Open also scheduled on Sept. 26-29 at Nan Pao Golf Club in Tainan City. A third PGTA tournament abroad later in the year is also being finalized that would further highlight the Philippine tour’s stake as one of the emerging circuits in the region.
No. 7 Wang Congjie, and joint ninth-running Yu Yuchen and Zhang Zheyu are likewise all primed up for the 72-hole championship serving as the third leg of the TPGA and the second stage of the PGT Asia sponsored by ICTSI.
The rest of the 79-player TPGA cast are also ready to slug it out with the PGTA best and flash their local knowledge of the par-72 layout, whose wide fairways put premium on shotmaking and its elevated greens expected to challenge the chipping skills of the competing field not to mention its unpredictable surface.
But the PGT Asia top guns are also going all-out, motivated not only by their desire to prove their worth against the hosts but also gain the bragging rights as the first winner of the first PGTA tournament overseas.
Thai Namchok Tantipokhakul, who ruled the first leg of the third PGTA season at Luisita last month, stands at the forefront of the Phl-based tour bets who include compatriots Kammalas Namuangruk, Natthapong Niyomchon and Donlapatchai Niyomchon along with Marcos Pastor of Spain, Singapore’s Choo Tze Huang and Japanese Keita Sudo.
Multi-titled Jay Bayron, a former OOM winner of one of the region’s development tours, is the lone Filipino entry in the full packed 144-player roster that features bets from the US, Sweden, Australia, Colombia, Scotland, Malaysia, Argentina, South Africa and Korea.