Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul will head into 2023 with renewed optimism after securing his conditional status for next season through the JGTO Final Qualifying Tournament (FQT) which concluded on Friday.
The 30-year-old performed well enough to pass the 72-hole test by coming in 26th among the 93 competitors at the Tom Watson Golf Course in Miyazaki.
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Gunn put together four steady rounds of 72, 71, 71 and 70 to finish on a four-under-par 284 total, narrowly missing out on the top-25 finish which could have secured him a better status.
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Despite that narrow miss, the Tokyo 2020 Olympian wasn’t too disheartened.
He has vowed to improve on his current status through the first-half season reshuffle.
“For the final qualifying tournament, my goal was to fight for top-10 so that I could get into almost everything during theĀ firstĀ half,” said Gunn, who had to turn to the final qualifying tournament after failing to finish inside top-65 in this season’s JGTO Money Rankings (he came in 73rd).
“But it wasn’t too bad actually as I still earned conditional status. It’s probably still good enough to get into six to seven events next year, just one or two less than those in the top-25s.
“Honestly, each year varies. It depends on your luck and how much it will goĀ downĀ theĀ list.
“What’s important is to make every tournament that you get into count. If you play well enough, then your status will improve for the second half of the season via the reshuffle.”
American Shintaro Ban, South Korea’s Sung-joon Park and Australian pair Andrew Evans and Dylan Perry were the four international candidates who succeeded in their bid to finish in top-25.
Shintaro, who plays predominantly on the PGA Tour of Latin America, was the most outstanding among them after finishing fourth with a nine-under 279 total.
Park, a former JGTO regular and winner of 2013 Vana H Cup KBC Augusta, will make his return to the main Tour for the first time in three years after claiming the 15th spot on 283.
Evans, the 2021 QT winner and Perry matched Park’s effort for the week to be ranked 18th and 19th respectively. They were ranked lower by virtue of their final-round scores.
Yuki Shino, who fired a 10-under 62 to finish on 13-under 275, three shots ahead of Toshnori Muto and Yoshitake Takeya to top the Final Qualifying Tournament (QT).
By virtue of being the QT winner, Shino will get access to most of the tournaments next season without being affected by mid-season reshuffle.
