Shoot for the Stars

Asia’s reservoir of golfing talent continues to grow deeper with the exciting emergence of new and young rising stars

Rattanon Wannasrichan raced to a glorious home win at the Thailand Open

At a time when iconic Asian Tour legends such as K.J. Choi, Jeev Milkha Singh, Thongchai Jaidee and Y.E. Yang, are tipping the opposite end of the golfing scale by hitting past their mid-40s age mark, a bunch of fearless young guns have since emerged to ensure more exciting days ahead for Asian golf.

The latest spark to hit the Asian Tour scene in a big way is Rattanon Wannasrichan, a 22-year-old who claimed a stunning start-to-finish victory at the Thailand Open, which made a welcome return onto the Asian Tour Schedule following an eight-year lapse.

Baby-faced Rattanon upstaged a top field at the Thai Country Club which included reigning Asian Tour No. 1 Scott Hend and 2013 Order of Merit champion Kiradech Aphibarnrat to secure his career breakthrough.

His rise isn’t quite a total surprise. As an amateur, Rattanon showed glimpses of his potential by winning the Southeast Asian Games ‘double’ when he bagged the individual and team gold medals in 2011.

He turned professional soon after in the following year, and cut his teeth on the domestic Thai circuit and Asian Development Tour in which he won the 2015 Taifong Open against several of Chinese Taipei’s leading stars including Lu Wei-chih and Chan Shih-chang.

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Written by Chuah Choo Chiang

Photography by Courtesy of Asian Tour

Click here to see the published article.

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