Asian Tour Yearbook: 2023

F I NA L STAGE QUA L I F Y I NG SCHOOL L A K E V I EW R E S O R T A N D GO L F C L U B , H UA H I N , T H A I L A N D | J A N UA RY 1 8 - 2 2 Canyon Country Club in Phuket, Thailand, at the start of the month. And prior to that he had not been able to practice for three weeks because of a wrist injury. Said Thompson: “This is great, I guess it hasn’t really sunk in yet. It has been a long week. I have been here for a fair few days now. It’s a relief and it’s just nice to win. There is always concern coming into an event if you can do it or not. “I hadn’t really had the best prep coming in. I had hurt my wrist playing a shot in the Vic PGA last year so I could only hit a bucket of balls in three weeks. It slowly got better and better. Swinging the first qualifier I had no idea, then the next round I worked it out and it carried on from there. I am just super stoked.” Thompson’s promise first revealed itself when he won the Gippsland Super 6 Match Play in just his fifth start on the PGA Tour of Australasia in 2021. “I have tried a few Q Schools before and missed out so it’s really nice to have somewhere to play overseas now. I had a great group of Aussie guys here thisweek and that really helped,” added the Australian. It was a two-horse race between Thompson and Lyras on the last day and they were tied on 22 under with three to play. Thompson then moved one ahead with a birdie on 17 before the pressure of a marathon week finally seemed to hit them when Thompson made a bogey on the last and Lyras a double. “It’s been a goal of mine to get a card overseas for a few years now, and to finally get that done there’s a bit of relief there for sure. It’s very exciting,” said Lyras. Hats off to the graduates! (FAR LEFT) John Lyras (RIGHT) and Zhengkai Bai (BOTTOM RIGHT) tied for second. “I probably looked better than I felt, you know, I was trying to win the golf tournament. I did everything I could, and the putts just didn’t go in and it was one of those days, but I feel like those days are character building.” The 26-year-old from Sydney is something of a late starter. A self-taught golfer, he mainly played cricket throughout his teenage years and did not play any real competitive golf until he left school. Said Bai: “This is great. I played Korn Ferry Tour 2020 to 2021, DP World Tour and Challenge Tour last year, and this year I’ll be trying the Asian Tour. “Feels nice. I played well the last few days, feeling good and getting more familiar with the course and attacking more pins, and I think I had a pretty good week.” In a first two Hong Kong players, Matthew Cheung and Taichi Kho, also secured Tour cards. IT’S BEEN A GOAL OF MINE TO GET A CARD OVERSEAS FOR A FEW YEARS NOW, AND TO FINALLY GET THAT DONE THERE’S A BIT OF RELIEF THERE FOR SURE. IT’S VERY EXCITING. – JOHN LYRAS 29