Suteepat Prateeptienchai’s fondness for Chinese-Taipei was evident once more today when he blasted an eight-under-par 64 to take the lead after the first-round of the Yeangder TPC.
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An eagle, seven birdies and one dropped shot at Linkou International Golf & Country Club, in Taipei, saw him finish the day ahead of second-placed Yuvraj Singh Sandhu from India and Chinese-Taipei’s Wang Wei-hsuan, both in with 65s.
Lu Wei-chih from Chinese-Taipei and Jordan Zunic from Australia are next best placed with 66s.
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Suteepat won the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open last year for his first win on the Asian Tour, and was second in that event the year before, when it was part of the Asian Development Tour (ADT) – a result that helped him finish first on the ADT Order of Merit.
And after a solid season so far on the Asian Tour – he is currently 41st on the Asian Tour merit list – his latest visit to Chinese-Taipei could be timely.
“I have a lot of friends here and have also been playing the local tour,” said Suteepat, aged 31.
“I missed the cut here last year, so I should be able to improve on that this year.”
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He began on the back nine, turning in three-under, following four birdies and a bogey. He then toured the second half in five under after an eagle and three birdies. He made a three on the par-five fourth where he fired in a five-iron to 12 feet.
He added: “My game has not been too bad this year, made some slight swing changes. It’s a really busy and important time of the year for all of us now.”
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Sandhu, like Suteepat, is an ADT graduate – although he came through from the ADT last year, after finishing eighth on the merit list with one victory.
He played in this event 12 months ago, soon after winning on the ADT at the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament in Indonesia.
Said the 27-year-old from Chandigarh: “Game is good. I am confident but do have a few nerves. Quite far from home, of course. As I played here last year so I knew what to prepare for.”
He has been struggling this year and missed the past six cuts, but he is still enjoying his debut season on the Asian Tour.
“I have a lot of friends who have graduated from the ADT to the Asian Tour,” he explained.
“I am comfortable here, it is great fun, it is competitive. Every shot matters on the Asian Tour. I am grateful for being here and I am blessed to be playing golf on a weekday, what more can I ask for.”
He is a six-time winner on the Professional Golf Tour of India, with five of those coming in 2022 – when he finished second on the rankings.
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Wang won the event’s long drive competition earlier in the week with a powerful strike of 370 yards and used that element of his game to good effect today.
He said: “I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be off the tees today but because I hit it long, I didn’t have much distance left going into the green. The way I drove the ball is definitely an advantage for me. The greens are soft this week, so I didn’t need to hold back on attacking the greens. I made the most of the opportunities I had.”
He plans to play in the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School in a few weeks, so he’s hoping a good week here will be the perfect preparation.
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Carlos Pigem from Spain, winner of this event in 2016, Filipino Miguel Tabuena, Korea’s Taehoon Ok, Jose Toledo from Guatemala, India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu and Karandeep Kochhar, and Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana and Atiruj Winaicharoenchai all shot 67s.
John Catlin, who leads the Asian Tour Order of Merit and The International Series Rankings carded a 69. The American was the champion here in 2018.
Defending champion Poom Saksansin returned a 73. The Thai star had been hoping his wife Piyatida, or ‘Ing Ing,’ would recover from flu so that she could caddie for him. They formed a winning partnership last year, but she decided she was not well enough to help him this time.
