Is Jazz on song for encore in Singapore Open?

Singapore

WITH a name like "Jazz", don't be surprised if he is on song most of the time.

After closing a phenomenal 2019 with an easy five-stroke victory at the Thailand Masters in Pattaya last month, Jazz Janewattananond returns to the tournament that served as the platform from which he launched his successful year.

When he arrives for the Jan 16-19 US$1 million SMBC Singapore Open at the Sentosa Golf Club on schedule on Monday, he will look back to January 2019 when he stunned a formidable field to claim the country's premier professional event at the Serapong course.

There is no doubt that his tongue-twisting name will be yet another subject for dialogues and one that will give the media good banter and great fodder for headline writers.

You see, Jazz is not his birth name. It's actually Atiwit, and he was nicknamed Jazz by his father, who is a fan of the music genre (not the Utah Jazz basketball team, apparently).

The tongue-twisting really begins once you attempt to pronounce his 15-letter last name.

The phonetic pronunciation is Jann-wat-ta-non-nond, which does not come easily on the first try, or maybe even the second or third.

It's not hard to see why he just uses his first name when signing autographs.

When he confirmed his decision to defend his title, the Singapore Open organisers clinked glasses because he is the current rave among Asian golfers, after claiming three other crowns in 2019 - the Kolon Korea Open, the BNI Indonesian Masters and the Thailand Masters to end the year with the Asian Tour's Order of Merit No 1.

Jazz, 24, could be just the second golfer in the 58-year history of the Singapore Open to make it two-in-a-row after Australian ace Adam Scott in 2005 and 2006.

"After winning the SMBC event and breaking into the top 100, my next goal was top 50," said Jazz.

And now holding a world ranking of 40, he added: "I am really happy to achieve that. It's been a very fulfilling year, so I am excited about the Singapore Open and what lies ahead."

Jazz repelled the challenges of Ryder Cup duo Paul Casey and Matthew Fitzpatrick, and Japan's Yoshinori Fujimoto to win the 2019 Singapore Open.

He said: "I got emotional, but happy emotional (at the victory). I could not believe that I beat Paul Casey down the stretch or Matthew Fitzpatrick who was in my group. It was defintely one of the best tournaments of my life."

With his confidence sky-high, this time Jazz will have to contend with Major winners Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar, as well as the finest players from the Asian and Japan Tours.

Scott went on to win a third Singapore Open in 2010, while five other golfers - Frank Phillips (1961, 1965), Ben Arda (1967, 1973), Hsieh Yung-yo (1968, 1970), Hsu Sheng-san (1977, 1982) and Lu Chien-soon (1983, 1989) - have been two-time winners of the event that was inaugurated back in 1961.