Phachara stays patient to lead the Thailand Masters

Pattaya, Thailand, December 20: Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai knows he has to continue to stay patient after carding a second round seven-under-par 64 to hold a one-shot lead over Belgium’s Thomas Detry at the season-ending Thailand Masters on Friday.

While he has yet to achieve his breakthrough on the Asian Tour, the 20-year-old Thai remains optimistic of his chances as he is coming into the week on the back of a rich vein of form with three top-six finishes in his last three events.

Starting his round on the 10th hole, Phachara stormed off the blocks quickly with two birdies in his opening three holes. He added another birdie on 16 before storming home with four more birdies to sign for a two-day total of 12-under-par 130 at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club.

Overnight leader Detry beat fatigue to remain in contention by returning with a 68 to take second place while Thai rookie Kosuke Kamamoto also put himself in the mix by matching Phachara’s 64 for outright third place.

Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-hsuan showed his promising talent when he carded a 67 to make his move up the leaderboard in the morning.

Wang turned professional only this year and showed he could be one of the rising stars to look out as he heads into the weekend tied for fourth.

The weekend cut was set at two-under-par with 84 players progressing into the final two rounds.

Did you know?

• Phachara Khongwatmai is coming off three straight top-six finishes on the Asian Tour, with a tied-fifth at last week’s BNI Indonesian Masters, tied-second after a play-off loss at the Sabah Masters, and a tied-sixth at the Thailand Open.
• He hit 15 out of 18 greens and had 27 putts in a bogey free seven-under-par 64 today.
• The 20-year-old Thai has a total of five top-10s this season, with tied-eight-place finishes at the Yeangder TPC and GS Caltex Maekyung Open to add to the events above.
• This summer he won the GolfSixes Cascais in Portugal, a two-player team event on the European Tour, together with compatriot, and this week’s host, Thongchai Jaidee.
• Phachara came into prominence when he won the 2015 PGM CCM Rahman Putra Championship to become the youngest ADT winner at the age of 15.
• He enjoyed his best season to date on the Asian Tour in 2017 when he finished third on the Order of Merit.
• Thomas Detry came very close to winning his first event on a major Tour two weeks ago, finishing tied-fourth at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open just one stroke out of the playoff.
• The Belgian also had a high finish in November when he came in tied-third at the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, one of European Tour’s Rolex Series events.
• Thanks to these two top finishes lately the 26-year-old now finds himself in a career high OWGR ranking of 130th, a win this week would put him very close to breaking into the top-100 for the first time.
• Other top-10 finishes on the European Tour this season includes tied-eight finishes in both the Amundi Open de France and Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation, and a tied-ninth at the Trophee Hassan II early in the season.
• Kosuke Hamamoto is playing in his first Asian Tour season after graduating Qualifying School last December in tied-21st place.
• The Thai came close to winning the Yeangder TPC in Chinese Taipei in September when he finished runner-up three strokes behind the winner.
• He also had a tied-10th the previous week in Indonesia and has comfortably kept his card for the 2020 Asian Tour season with just over US$96,000 in earnings.
• Kosuke is still in the running for the Rookie of the Year, and a win this week could see him clinch the award.
• He hit 15 out of 18 greens and had 27 putts in a bogey free seven-under-par 64.
• Wang Wei-hsuan from Chinese Taipei is in his first year as a professional and has posted two top-10s so far this season. A tied-third at the Haikou Classic and a fifth-place finish at the Qinhuangdao Championship.
• The 20-year-old has played two Asian Tour events previously this season, with a tied-25th in the Yeangder TPC as his best result. He also finished tied-29th in last month’s Thailand Open.
• As Wang is a non-member playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption, he will need a win this week to secure playing rights for the 2020 Asian Tour season.