Thaworn Wiratchant eyes Asian Tour Order of Merit title
Thaworn Wiratchant has said that he will be capitalising on the opportunity of playing the remaining three Asian Tour events this season, to surge to the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Last week, Marcus Fraser of Australia finished third at the UBS Hong Kong Open and regained the top spot in the standings.
However, the Australian decided not to participate in the rest of the events on the Asian Tour, due to his commitments to play tournaments in Australia.
Fraser pocketed US$125,200 at the Hong Kong Golf Club and increased his total earnings to US$652,344. He now holds around US$24,000 lead over Wiratchant, who finished 22nd last week.
With three tournaments left on the Asian Tour roster, Wiratchant has a strong opportunity in front of him, to dominate the Order of Merit for the second time in his career.
Talking to the Asian Tour’s official website, Fraser explained that he will prefer the Australian PGA or the Australian Open over the Asian Tour tournaments, because of his affection towards the local events.
“I'm not going to play the two events in Thailand and possibly in Johor, so I'm pretty sure Thaworn will bank some dollars there and it will be his,” Fraser said.
“We've got the Australian Open and the Australian PGA the same week at home and I haven't played any events at home this year. I really should be going back to Australia and playing some events”.
Wiratchant, in the meantime, is relishing the opportunity to play in each of the tournaments left this season.
The Thai star has won three times during the season and is confident to increase the number till the end of the year. He also holds the record of registering most number of wins on the Asian Tour – he has won 15 Asian Tour titles in his career.
While he leads Jbe Kruger by over US$174,000, the Thai star prefers to utilise the cautious approach. He still needs to add some more cash to his account, if he has to secure his place on top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, who trails Wiratchant by over US$205,000, is another player who expressed his wish of becoming the next Asian Tour Order of Merit winner.
Bhullar has won twice on the Asian Tour this season and is confident to add another title to his resume till the end of 2012.
In the history of the Asian Tour, India is the only country that has produced the most number of Order of Merit winners.
In 2002, Jyoti Randhawa became the first Indian to wear the crown of the Asian Tour’s number one player.
Arjun Atwal followed him by winning the prestigious title in 2003, before Jeev Milkha Singh did the same twice in his career – Singh won the title in 2006 and 2008.
If Bhullar succeeds in becoming the Order of Merit winner this year, he will be the fourth Indian player in the history of the tour to achieve that mark.
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