After a decade-long wait to get on to the Asian Tour, Thailand’s Tawit Polthai is eager to show he belongs on the big stage.
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In Thursday’s opening round of the US$500,000 Taiwan Glass Taifong Open, Tawit, who turned pro in 2016 and played mostly on the Asian Development Tour before graduating this season as the Order of Merit champion, shot a seven-birdie round in his six-under par 66 effort that secured a one-shot lead over three players and by two shots over a group of eight players.
With rounds of 67, Thailand’s in-form Charng-Tai Sudsom, New Zealand’s Nick Voke, and American Shotaro Ban were tied second.
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Local favourites Tse-yu Chang and Yung-hua Liu were among those tied for fifth at 68, alongside an eclectic group that included Singapore’s Ryan Ang, Wales’ David Boote, England’s Steve Lewton, South African Ian Snyman and China’s Sampson Zheng.
The 31-year-old Tawit won the PKNS Selangor Masters early in the season and held on to his lead with five other top-10s to finish as the No1 player on the ADT. It hasn’t been the best start to 2026 for the Bangkok-based professional, but a solid tied 33rd finish at the Singapore Open presented by Business Times helped boost his confidence.
Tawit dropped a long 27-footer for birdie on the 12th hole before making his only mistake on the 13th hole. He had made three birdies on the front nine. Most players said the greens were playing much firmer than the end-of-year dates for the tournament, but the leader made the most of his early start.
“Singapore Open was pretty solid and that helped my confidence. I don’t want to think about goals for the year, or what I want to do here this week. I just want to play good golf and enjoy my time on the Asian Tour,” said Tawit.
Charng-Tai is coming off a win on the All Thailand Golf Tour last week, but said he was struggling with his game after making an early bogey. His nerves finally settled down and back-to-back birdies on the par-5 17th and 18th holes put him in a good mood for his back nine (front nine of the course), where he made birdies on the third and eighth holes, and an eagle on fifth.
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The 32-year-old from Chonburi, who won by nine shots last week, is trying to make up for a frustrating 2025 when he finished 66th in the Asian Tour Order of Merit and lost his card by the narrowest of margins.
“Winning last week in Thailand was good. And I love playing in Taiwan. My father is from here,” said Charng-Tai. “I did not hit too many drivers today. I just wanted to keep it in play. The highlight was definitely the eagle on the fifth hole, where I chipped in from about 35 yards.”
The 31-year-old Voke is looking for his best finish on the Asian Tour since finishing third in the Shinhan Donghae Open in his rookie year in 2018.
Apart from a rather disappointing tied 53rd place at his home New Zealand Open presented by Hillbrook Resort, Voke has not finished outside 26th in 10 starts this year, and is intent on improving on that form at the Taifong Golf Club.
“I got off to a hot start early, made birdies on one, two and five… but nothing crazy, to be honest. Like the holes you should birdie, I birdied. And the holes you should par, I got up and down for my pars. Nothing crazy, but really happy with my day,” said Voke.
“I’ve been playing well for a while now. It’s kind of nice, because I’ve been on the other side of it. Golf can be a really hard game. It can beat us up. Fortunately, the last couple of years, it has treated me really well. I’ve learned a few things, and there are a few more things that I now understand in life. Hopefully, keep it going.”
Ban, whose mother’s side of the family is from Chinese Taipei and he has been living in the country since 2023, gave his fans plenty to cheer on the back nine after starting from the 10th tee and making the turn at even-par despite an eagle on the par-5 17th hole. He then made birdies on the first, second, fourth, fifth and the seventh holes.
Suradit made a triple bogey seven in his round, but bounced back nicely to finish with four birdies. He opened with three birdies in his first five holes, before hitting his tee shot out of bounds on the par-4 sixth, and three-putting for the triple.
“It was hard to make the triple after such a good start. I just told my caddie on the seventh tee, let’s pretend that we haven’t made any birdies so far and let’s go and get some from this hole onwards,” said Suradit, who finished second in Mercuries Taiwan Masters down the road last year.
