Thailand Golf Championship – Kalle Samooja comes close to securing his Asian Tour card
After finishing tied for the 17th position at the Thailand Golf Championship, Kalle Samooja of Finland has set his sights on ending his 2012 Asian Tour campaign on a high note, as he prepares to participate in the season-ending Iskandar Johor Open.
The Iskandar Johor Open will be staged at the Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club, offering a total prize fund of US$2 million, to the participants.
Entering the final round at the Amata Spring Country Club, the Finn was sharing the 40th position on the leaderboard.
He got off to a confident start, birdying three of the first four holes that he played. He then added another birdie to his scorecard on the seventh hole, prior to conceding two bogeys on the eighth and the ninth hole.
Thereafter, he made a strong charge on the leaderboard, after firing four birdies in a row, starting from the 11th hole.
At the end of the day, he found himself settled for a six-under par 66, to accumulate a four-day total of a seven-under par 281.
“I played good golf and made a lot of putts. I’ve been hitting it really well all week but couldn’t make any putts. Suddenly it started dropping in the last round so that was the key,” he said.
He added, “I was hitting it well on the practice round so I didn’t have any pressure. I was quite confident of doing well”.
Samooja, who has yet to record a victory on the Asian Tour, finished 18 strokes behind the winner Charl Schwartzel.
However, all that mattered in the end was the fact that he made it into the top-60 in the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Entering the final event on the 2012 Asian Tour roster, the Finn now holds the 55th position in the money list, after pocketing $58,115 as prize money, during his 2012 campaign.
According to the Asian Tour’s policy, the top-60 players to finish the season will be allowed to retain their cards for the upcoming season.
“This is big. Next week is really big as well. This puts me closer to where I want to be and I want to be inside the top-60. This is not enough so next week will be another big week,” he said.
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