The Thai takeover

Thai golfers have been making waves on the Asian Tour

It is now 10 years since the Asian Tour began in its new avatar, as the Asian PGA. In fact in 2004 it underwent another change and became the Asian Tour once again.

The management may have changed hands, with players now directly handling the day-to-day running of the Tour. Regardless of changing managements, the fact of the matter is Asian golf is on a roll.

The Japanese and the Koreans were always the big force in Asian golf. The Japanese began making inroads into world golf quite sometime back, and of late players like K J Choi of Korea have also done very well.

Choi was fourth at the Masters this year and his progress over the years mark him out as the man to watch from Asia.

There are a few others not too far behind and waiting for their moment. Prominent in this category of stars-in-the-waiting are Thai and Indian golfers.

Led by the superstar, Thongchai Jaidee, winner of the 2001 Asian Order of Merit and current leader in 2004, the Thais have been making waves in the last 10 years and of late have begun moving ahead with great speed.

The Indians had the likes of Jeev Milkha Singh to give them that impetus in the mid-1990s when he twice finished in the top five of the Merit List in Asia before moving onto higher Tours in Europe and Japan. Jeev is currently 34th in Japan.

The mantle has now been taken over by Jyoti Randhawa, the 2002 Merit List winner and Arjun Atwal, the 2003 Merit List winner. Randhawa, who made the cut at the British Open this year and finished tied 28th, has made big strides in Asia and Japan and is now planning a foray into the US.

Meanwhile, Atwal is already there, though he has struggled somewhat in his rookie year and is hard-pressed to keep the card, he earned by virtue of making it through the tough USPGA Q-School.

While, Indian golf followers have been training their sights on Indian golfers' movements in Asia and elsewhere, the Thais have shown that they are now slowly but steadily moving ahead of the Indians.

The Thais have always been fairly strong in Asian golf. They have the likes of veteran Boonchu Ruangkit, second in the Merit List back in 1995, and who is still going strong. He is in the top 10 in 2004, too. And in his wake, there has been a big group, which has made tremendous improvement.

Jaidee has become the standard bearer of Thai golf. Still leading the Asian merit list, despite playing a mere six events, he is now trying his hand on the European Tour with occasional trips to the US.

He is not the only Thai around. There is Thaworn Wiratchant, the man with a unique swing, Srirot Thammannoon, Prayad Marksaeng and Chawlit Plaphol.

While Wiratchant has been playing regularly in Asia and has climbed to the No 6 spot in Asia, his compatriots, Marksaeng and Plaphol have been plying their trade on the lucrative but highly competitive Japanese Tour.

Marksaeng has time and again been in top 10, but it has been Plaphol, who hit the target becoming the first Thai to win on the Japanese Tour.

Led by Jaidee, the Thais have four players in the top 10 of Asia. To put that into perspective, no other country has more than one. A Scot (Simon Yates), an Indian (Randhawa), a Japanese (Hideto Tanihara), an Englishman (Simon Dyson), an Australian (Brad Kennedy) and a Korean (Charlie Wi) make up the other six. The Scotsman Simon Yates is actually based in Thailand, as is the 11th ranked American, Greg Hanrahan.

Jaidee leads the list of Asians with $332,375 in just six starts, and in Europe, he is a creditable 38th on the Volvo Order of Merit. Marksaeng, despite playing most of the time in Japan is lying fifth with $188,801, also in six appearances. He is also 29th in Japan.

Wiratchant is sixth in Asia with $181,534 and Ruangkit ninth with earnings of $163,618. Plaphol, also in Japan most of the time, is 22nd in Asia and 23rd in Japan. Thammannoon in 27th place and young Prom Meesawat in the 56th place and that makes seven Thais players in top 60 of Asia.

In addition, the Thai record on the Asian Tour has been phenomenal. They have won five of the 15 events held so far, which makes it one in every three. Jaidee has won twice, Ruangkit, Thammannoon and Wiratchant have won once each.

Non-Asians have won seven times, including two by the Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, who took two joint-sanctioned events. Singapore, India and Korea have one win each through Mardan Mamat (Indian Open), Rahil Gangjee (Volkswagen, China) and Charlie Wi (Taiwan Open) respectively.

India does have a healthy representation in top 50 with six players. But apart from Randhawa, third on the Asian list, there is no one else in the top 30. Rahil Gangjee (31st), Amandeep Johl (33rd), Harmeet Kahlon (38th), Jeev Milkha Singh (45th) and Gaurav Ghei (49th) are the others.

Overall, Australia leads the Asian list with 10 players in the top 60, while the US has eight. Korea has seven in the top 40 and India has six in the top 50. Thai has seven in top 60.

While Korean golf is already big, in terms of the rest of Asia, barring Japan, the Thais have received great support from home. They have local sponsors and the domestic events are arranged in a manner that makes it easy for them to play at home, which they do to keep their Thai sponsors happy.

That's why one sees even the top Thais returning home from Japan, Europe and elsewhere to play some events in Thailand, despite the comparatively lower prize purses.

In contrast, the Indian Tour, despite a very well-organised structure with more events is not able to attract its top stars, who are busy elsewhere.

Maybe it is time for all in India to sit together and evolve a strategy to rectify that. That will ensure better golf in India and a possibility of Indian sponsors coming forward to support golfers.