Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage leader Takumi Murakami of Japan on the 18th tee at Hua Hin, Thailand, on Friday. Image courtesy Asian Tour/Paul Lakatos.
From a Correspondent
Hua Hin, Thailand: After four days of pressure-packed golf, 73 players made it through to Saturday’s final round of the Asian Tour Qualifying School – where the ultimate prize of 35 tour cards for 2025 await.
Players from North Asia have a stranglehold on the leaderboard, with Japan’s Takumi Murakami in front by two from Korean Kyungnam Kang.
Murakami carded a 6 under par 65 to move to 19-under 265 at Lake View Resort and Golf Club, in Hua Hin, Thailand, while Kang, the leader by three at the start of the day, shot a 70.
Japan’s Yosuke Asaji (67) and Taiki Yoshida (69) plus Korean Doyeob Mun (67) are joint third, four behind the leader.
Australian Jack Thompson (69), the winner here two years ago, is one shot further back along with countryman Lawry Flynn 68. They all played the C and D nines today but move back to playing A and B tomorrow.
Ajeetesh Sandhu (63-70-68-71) was the only Indian in contention for a tour card from Hua Hin, tied for ninth place on 12 under 272.
Narrow miss
Missing out were Karandeep Kochhar (67-73-69-72) and Arjun Sharma (73-70-70-68) who were one stroke shy of cut the line.
Others finishing behind them were Chikkarangappa S. (73-71-71-67), Rashid Khan (71-71-74-66), Pukhraj Singh Gill (68-75-71-68), Aryan Roopa Anand (69-71-69-74), and Anshul Kabthiyal (72-70-73-76).
Murakami is 25 years old and has played the main tour and challenge tour in Japan the past few seasons.
He started on Tee 10 on the day and was in trouble after making the turn in one-over-par but found some inspiration on the second half making an eagle and five birdies – four in a row – for a 28.
‘Well, my putting was really good,” he said.
“The first half didn’t flow very well but the second half was amazing. On the first hole of the back nine I got a birdie, and the flow of my putting kept getting better and better, and in the end, I got a big score.”
He failed to earn a card in his only other attempt at Qualifying School in 2020 but is making up for that this week.
He said: “I don’t know what it is, but I’m interested in overseas tours and it’s amazing. I also like watching overseas tours. I’ve always wanted to try something like this because I think it would be a good learning experience.”
Impressive run
After an impressive week, Kang, also the joint first-round leader, wasn’t quite on point on Friday but the veteran, with 11 wins in Korea to his name, will be one of the favourites on Saturday.
“Today my putting wasn’t very good, but also, I played the C-D course today and I think the A-B course suits my game better. The final round is on A-B, so I will try as hard as I can,” Kang said.
“I’m 17 under at the moment, and I want to be more than 20 under for my total. In practice I’ve shot much lower scores on the A-B course, so my target is more than 20 under total and I want to try to win.”
The cut came at 4 under par 281. Singapore’s Koh Deng Shan was one of those to make it though at the last minute but birdieing his final hole for a 67.
Spain’s Alejandro Canizares, son of Ryder Cup star Jose-Maria Canizares, agonisingly missed by one after a bogey on the last. (courtesy Asian Tour)
Round 4 qualifiers
265 – Takumi Murakami (JPN) 69-65-66-65.
267 – Kyungnam Kang (KOR) 63-69-65-70.
269 – Yosuke Asaji (JPN) 67-68-67-67, Taiki Yoshida (JPN) 66-67-67-69, Doyeob Mun (KOR) 65-67-70-67.
270 – Jack Thompson (AUS) 65-66-70-69, Lawry Flynn (AUS) 71-66-65-68.
271 – Bai Zhengkai (CHN) 69-68-66-68.
272 – Christopher Hickman (USA) 67-68-65-72, Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 63-70-68-71, Pawin Ingkhapradit (THA) 71-71-68-62.
273 – Darcy Brereton (AUS) 67-68-73-65, Sean Ramos (PHI) 64-71-68-70, Xiao Bowen (CHN) 71-69-68-65, Changwoo Lee (KOR) 72-70-67-64, Joel Stalter (FRA) 70-67-67-69, Ekpharit Wu (THA) 68-70-70-65, Ervin Chang (MAS) 67-69-69-68.
274 – Jakkanat Inmee (THA) 71-70-65-68, Eduard Rousaud (ESP) 69-69-69-67, George Kneiser (USA) 68-70-66-70, Wu Ashun (CHN) 69-68-72-65.
275 – Flint Bekkers (USA) 65-71-70-69, Settee Prakongvech (THA) 68-68-68-71, Denzel Ieremia (NZL) 68-67-69-71, Ngai Si (MAC) 71-69-68-67, Manav Shah (USA) 66-67-72-70, Todd Sinnott (AUS) 71-71-66-67, Michele Ortolani (ITA) 67-71-68-69, Taiga Sugihara (JPN) 67-70-68-70, Yin-ho Yue (HKG) 72-69-66-68.
276 – Yu Sung-po (TPE) 67-72-72-65, Julien Sale (FRA) 68-67-73-68, Roberto Lebrija (MEX) 71-69-66-70, Yusaku Hosono (JPN) 68-70-67-71, Brett Rankin (AUS) 67-70-68-71, Yuki Shino (JPN) 69-72-69-66.
277 – Jordan Zunic (AUS) 69-71-67-70, Minjun Kim (KOR) 69-71-68-69, Liu Yanwei (CHN) 68-70-67-72, Pep Angles (ESP) 71-67-68-71, Miguel Carballo (ARG) 65-73-71-68, Dominic Foos (GER) 67-71-72-67, She Zihan (CHN) 70-69-69-69, Leon D’Souza (HKG) 70-67-68-72.
278 – Sam Broadhurst (ENG) 68-73-70-67, Georges Stal (FRA) 71-65-73-69, Minhyuk Song (KOR) 71-68-70-69, Austin Rose (USA) 72-68-69-69, Will Florimo (AUS) 70-64-75-69, Taehoon Ok (KOR) 71-73-67-67, Tyson Reeder (USA) 72-71-64-71, Wang Wei-hsuan (TPE) 67-70-72-69.
279 – Jaemin Park (am, KOR) 69-70-70-70, Nicklaus Chiam (SIN) 72-67-69-71, Newport Laparojkit (THA) 73-71-69-66, Yujun Jung (KOR) 70-70-74-65, Robert Foley (SUI) 70-70-71-68, Su Ching-hung (TPE) 68-70-71-70, Charles Porter (USA) 70-68-67-74, Niklas Regner (AUT) 65-72-67-75, David Drysdale (SCO) 70-72-67-70.
280 – Zhou Yanhan (CHN) 69-75-71-65, Christian Nido (PUR) 70-70-70-70, Niall Kearney (IRL) 71-73-70-66, Suradit Yongcharoenchai (THA) 71-71-68-70, Minwook Gwon (KOR) 71-67-71-71, Yikeun Chang (KOR) 72-71-68-69, Nirun Sae-ueng (THA) 71-71-70-68, Carl Jano Corpus (PHI) 67-72-70-71, Koh Dengshan (SIN) 70-71-72-67, Charng-Tai Sudsom (THA) 70-69-71-70, Luis Carrera (MEX) 69-67-72-72.
Also read: Korea’s Kang stays ahead at Asian Tour Q School Final Stage
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