Trio of amateur golfers set to light up US$1.5m International Series at Tampines

Thailand’s Ratchanon Chantananawat created a sensation at the last Asian Tour event at Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines course in February this year. Then just a month shy of her 15th birthday, she finished in third place, 2 shots behind eventual winner Kim Joo-hyung of South Korea who scooped up US$180,000 in prize money at the Singapore International.

As an amateur, Ratchanon could not claim the money given for coming in third, so she had to be content with just bragging rights.

With another Asian Tour event - the US$1.5 million International Series - returning to the Tampines course from this Thursday (Aug 11) to Sunday, there are indications that 3 amateurs could light up the event, just as Ratchanon had done 6 months ago.

Singapore’s James Leow, Hongkong’s Taichi Kho and India’s Yash Majmudar enter the event with some impressive credentials, indicating that they could strike some fear in the professionals among the 144-player field.

In the past 2 months, the 25-year-old Leow won the Thunderbird Collegiate event, won the Arnold Palmer Cup with his Team International in Switzerland, and claimed the Pacific Coast crown in the US.

With his Pacific Coast two-shot triumph with a 15-under 269 total, Leow jumped 46 places to 69th in the world amateur rankings. Leow, who returned to Singapore last Saturday (Jul 31) from the US, is scheduled to play 2 practice rounds at the Tampines course this week.

The 21-year-old Kho, now in his last year of college at Notre Dame, was the joint-leader after the first round with Thailand’s Itthipat Buranatanyarat at the Mandiri Indonesia Open in Jakarta last week. Kho eventually finished joint-11th on 13-under par.

Yash, 24, won the Singapore Open Amateur Championship at the Tampines course in July after a playoff and qualified for this week’s event. The Singapore-born Yash, who started playing when he was just 3 years old at Orchid Country Club, is now based in Dubai.

All 3 amateurs harbour hopes of turning professional one day. Leow, who is slated to play in next month’s Eisenhower Trophy event in Paris, will make his decision after attending Qualifying School in the Korn Ferry Tour.

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Amateurs performing well at professional events are commonplace in the sport since Phil Mickelson won on the US PGA Tour In 1991. Pablo Martin (2007 Estoril Portuguese Open), Danny Lee (2009 Johnnie Walker Classic, Shane Lowry (2009 Irish Open) and Lydia Ko (2012 and 2013 Canadian Opens) are some of the other amateurs who have triumphed at big tournaments.

High-performing amateurs turn pro after sensational showings because if they do not change their status, they are eligible only for a US$1,000 payout which is barely enough to cover their expenses.

Singapore’s veteran golfer Mardan Mamat turned professional after bagging a hole-in-one at an event at Tanah Merah’s Garden course back in 1994. He will be 55 this October and has made more than 700 appearances on the Asian Tour since his first pro event in 1995.

As Singapore’s No 1 golfer – a status he gained in the late-1990s and only lost intermittently for short periods to Lam Chih Bing and Quincy Quek – Mardan enters this week’s International Series as a celebrated golfer and an automatic qualifier.

However, Mardan, a golfer with 15 professional triumphs under his belt, is finding it difficult competing against much younger opponents these days. At his age, he has lost about 10 metres in driving-distance although occasionally he can turn on a mean game.

He hopes to raise his game at the International Series this week, which has American Patrick Reed as the marquee name with his US Masters triumph in 2018. He also represented the US at previous editions of the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

Other big names in the field include 73rd-ranked Japanese Yuka Inamori, Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana (11th at the 2022 British Open and the current Singapore Open champion), Sihwan Kim (2022 Indonesian Open winner), and Gaganjeet Bhullar with 21 professional wins.

Besides Sadom, there are 6 other former Singapore Open champions taking part including Zaw Moe (1997), Jyoti Randhawa (2000), Thaworn Wiratchant (2001), Jeev Milkha Singh (2008), Prayad Marksaeng (2017) and Jazz Janewattananond (2019).