KOREAN Jeunghun Wang and Nick Voke from New Zealand made ideal starts in their attempts to regain their Asian Tours cards today when they shot six-under-par 65s for the lead on day one of the Final Stage of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School, here in Hua Hin, Thailand.
Two courses are being used for this week’s marathon five-round pressure-packed event, with Wang and Voke both playing Lake View Resort and Golf Club’s A&B layouts yesterday.
Spaniard Carlos Pigem is in third place following a five-under-par 67 on Springfield Royal Country Club’s C&B nines.
Korean rookie Wooyoung Cho, a member of last year’s gold medal winning Asian Games team, is next best placed following a 67 at Lake View, which is a par-71, while Springfield is a par-72.
He is tied with Charlie Lindh from Sweden who also played at Lakeview, and Thailand’s Panuphol ‘Coconut’ Pittarayat and Taihei Sato from Japan, who were both at Springfield.
Both the leaders teed off on 10 and later finished strongly, with Wang, who was bogey-fee, closing with birdies on seven and nine while Voke was even more impressive on his last four holes, nailing three birdies and an eagle on eight.
“Perfect start for me,” said 28-year-old Wang.
“Didn’t do much wrong. I am really focused on getting my card.”
He grabbed international headlines several seasons ago with three fine victories on the DP World Tour, and returned to golf in 2022 having completed 18-months of National Service.
It was in May of 2016 that he claimed the Trophee Hassan II, before he won the following week’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, an event sanctioned by Asia, Europe and South Africa; and the following year he triumphed in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. At one point he rose as high as 39th on the Official World Golf Ranking.
Voke, the 28-year-old from Auckland, New Zealand, is a three-time winner on the China Tour in 2018, the year after he turned professional, and is at the school this week after finishing 136th on last year’s Asian Tour Order of Merit.
American John Catlin, a three-time winner on the DP World Tour and four-time champion on the Asian Tour, who makes his home in Hua Hin carded a 72 at Springfield and has work to do.
Spaniards Alvaro Quiros and Gonzalo Fdez-Castano, also multiple winners in Europe, carded disappointing rounds of 74 and 76 respectively.
The top-140 players (and ties) after 36 holes tomorrow will progress to round three and four. The top-70 players (and ties) after 72 holes will play in the final round. At the conclusion of 90 holes, the top-35 will be ranked accordingly for the 2024 season.
The first event of the new season, the US$1million IRS Prima Malaysian Open, will be played at The Mines Resort & Golf Club, from February 15-18.
Scores after round 1 of the The Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage 2024 (am – denotes amateur):
65 – Nick Voke (NZL), Jeunghun Wang (KOR).
67 – Carlos Pigem (ESP), Wooyoung Cho (KOR).
68 – Taihei Sato (JPN), Panuphol Pittayarat (THA).
67 – Charlie Lindh (SWE).
68 – Tomoharu Otsuki (JPN).
69 – Honey Baisoya (IND).
68 – Tomoyo Ikemura (JPN), Junggon Hwang (KOR), Matt Killen (ENG), Liu Enhua (CHN), Matias Dominguez (CHI).
69 – Luo Xuewen (CHN), Sam Brazel (AUS), Justin Quiban (PHI), Lin Chuan-tai (am, TPE), Matt Sharpstene (USA).
70 – Meenwhee Kim (KOR), Nathan Barbieri (AUS).
69 – Stefano Mazzoli (ITA).
70 – Runchanapong Youprayong (THA), Waris Manthorn (THA).
69 – Peter Wilson (AUS).
70 – Varun Chopra (USA).
69 – Maverick Antcliff (AUS), Shogenji Tatsunori (JPN), Pukhraj Singh Gill (IND), Gunn Yang (USA).
71 – Andy Kang (USA), Hamza Amin (PAK).
70 – Ye Wocheng (CHN), Sungyeol Kwon (KOR).
71 – Liu Yanwei (CHN), Taichi Nabetani (JPN), Abel Gallegos (ARG), Jose Toledo (GTM), Doyeob Mun (KOR).
70 – Denzel Ieremia (NZL), Minhyeok Yang (KOR), Lin K.P. (TPE), Mikiya Akutsu (JPN), Kosuke Hamamoto (THA).
71 – Ben Jones (ENG), Max Charles (am, AUS).
70 – Chankyu Park (KOR).
72 – Baekjun Kim (KOR).
71 – Gaurav P. Singh (IND).
72 – Pawin Ingkhapradit (THA), Jesper Kennegard (SWE), Otto Van Buynder (RSA), Yikeun Chang (KOR).
71 – Sangpil Yoon (KOR), Danthai Boonma (THA), Jake Lane (CAN).
72 – Ryosuke Kinoshita (JPN), Jared Du Toit (CAN), Naraajie Ramadhanputra (INA), Akinori Tani (JPN).
71 – Manav Shah (USA).
72 – John Catlin (USA).
71 – Nicolas Horder (GER).
72 – Liu Yung-hua (TPE), Koh Deng shan (SIN), Yuwa Kosaihira (JPN), Issa Abouelela (am, EGY), Hanmil Jung (KOR).
71 – Kristoffer Broberg (SWE).
72 – Saptak Talwar (IND).
71 – Tawit Polthai (THA), Leo Oyo (JPN), Tanapat Pichaikool (THA).
73 – Matthew Cheung (HKG), Lu Sun-yi (TPE).
72 – Angus Flanagan (ENG), Manu Gandas (IND), Douglas Klein (AUS).
73 – Rahil Gangjee (IND), Lu Wei-chih (TPE).
72 – Christian Banke (USA).
73 – Jared Edwards (NZL).
72 – David Meyers (RSA).
73 – Yashas Chandra (IND).
72 – Tsai Sangay (TPE), Christofer Rahm (SWE).
73 – Shae Wools-Cobb (AUS).
72 – Gregory Foo (SIN), Arjun Prasad (IND).
73 – Khalin Joshi (IND), Sean Ramos (PHI).
72 – Austen Truslow (USA), Itthipat Buranatanyarat (THA).
73 – Galven Green (MAS).
72 – Justin Warren (AUS), Bai Zhengkai (CHN), Yosuke Asaji (JPN), Eric McIntosh (SCO), Kenta Endo (JPN).
73 – Rory Hie (INA).
72 – Joe Heraty (ENG).
73 – Junghwan Lee (KOR).
72 – Kartik Sharma (IND).
74 – Kyle Michel (AUS).
73 – Andre Lautee (AUS), Cao Senshou (CHN).
74 – Sam Rook (ENG).
73 – Jeff Guan (AUS).
74 – Harrison Crowe (AUS).
73 – Thomas Lim (USA), Jonathan Wijono (INA).
74 – Khavish Varadan (MAS).
73 – Kevin Akbar (INA), Newport Laparojkit (THA), Harry Boyle (ENG).
74 – Hongtaek Kim (KOR), Seungtaek Oh (KOR).
73 – Thitipat Lem (THA).
74 – Jeff Burton (USA).
73 – Warun Ieamgaew (THA).
74 – Andrea Saracino (ITA).
73 – Aman Raj (IND).
74 – Lachlan Barker (AUS), Natipong Srithong (THA).
73 – Sunhit Bishnoi (IND), Nguyen Nhat Long (VNM).
74 – Kammalas Namuangruk (THA), Austin Duncan (USA).
75 – Tong Yang (CHN).
74 – Toyokazu Fujishima (JPN).
75 – Tunyapat Sukkoed (THA), Rikard Karlberg (SWE).
74 – Alvaro Quiros (ESP), Yubin Jang (KOR).
75 – Michael Herrera (USA), Cameron Meeks (USA), Peter Gunawan (INA).
74 – Paul San (MAS), Jordan Zunic (AUS), Lloyd Jefferson Go (PHI).
75 – Sungjin Noh (KOR), Jeremy Gandon (FRA).
74 – Tirawat Kaewsiribandit (THA).
75 – Gavin Moynihan (IRL).
74 – Leon D’Souza (HKG).
75 – Robin Petersson (SWE), Tsutomu Kikuta (JPN).
74 – Poosit Supupramai (THA), Muhammad Shahzad (PAK), Weerawish Narkprachar (THA).
76 – Suttinon Panyo (THA).
75 – Jake Hughes (AUS).
76 – Sachin Baisoya (IND).
75 – Evan Peterson (USA), Eunshin Park (KOR).
76 – Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ESP).
75 – Alex Ching (USA), Michele Ortolani (ITA), Xue Han (CHN), Jakraphan Premsirigorn (THA), Akshay Sharma (IND).
76 – Saud Al Sharif (KSA).
75 – Varanyu Rattanaphiboonkij (THA), Gen Nagai (JPN), Lawry Flynn (AUS).
76 – Sota Fujii (JPN), Dodge Kemmer (USA), Divyanshu Bajaj (IND), James Mee (AUS).
75 – Thomas McLendon (USA).
76 – Harshjeet Singh Sethie (IND).
75 – Amir Nazrin (MAS).
76 – Juvic Pagunsan (PHI), Jonathan Walters (USA).
77 – Fadhli Soetarso (INA).
76 – Jakkanat Inmee (THA).
77 – Jaturon Duangphaichoom (THA).
76 – Lai Chia-i (TPE), Luke Gifford (USA).
77 – Nattawat Suvajanakorn (THA), Kento Yamawaki (JPN), Blake Wagoner (USA), Julius Kreutzer (GER), Nopparat Panichphol (THA), Jin Cheng (CHN).
76 – Xiao Bowen (CHN).
77 – Yuta Sugiura (JPN), Filip Lundell (SWE), Lin Yung-lung (TPE).
76 – Joel Stalter (FRA), Ngai Si (am, MAC).
77 – Aidric Jose Chan (am, PHI), William Bruyeres (AUS).
78 – Nicholas Fung (MAS), Aoki Takano (JPN), Ayoub Lguirati (MAR), Thitipan Pachuayprakong (THA).
77 – Honjo Matsumura (JPN), James Leow (SIN).
78 – Cameron Harlock (am, NZL).
77 – Faisal Salhab (KSA).
78 – Rakhyun Cho (KOR).
77 – Joey Mayo (USA).
78 – Chi Quan Truong (VNM).
77 – Bryan Teoh (MAS).
78 – Joshua Wirawan (INA).
79 – Hiroya Kubota (JPN).
78 – Sam Broadhurst (ENG).
79 – Dongmin Lee (KOR), Kento Nakai (JPN), Moojin Cho (KOR).
80 – Ryoto Furuya (USA).
82 – Othman Almulla (KSA), Koichiro Ishika (JPN).
83 – Tang Haizhao (CHN).
85 – Evan Kawai (am, USA), Thanyakon Khrongpha (THA).
96 – Mahbubul Islam (BAN).