Asian Tour Yearbook: 2023

I N T ER NAT IONA L SER I E S OMA N A L MO U J GO L F | F E B R UA RY 9 - 1 2 | P R I Z E MON E Y U S $ 2 M I L L I ON up a five-shot gap from Hisatsune and appeared to be coasting before he missed short putts on 12 and 13 to see his lead cut to three from playing-partner Sadom. Despite the wind starting to strengthen and threatening to play havoc with his push for victory Kanaya then moved four ahead again when he birdied the 15th but dropped a stroke on the next to return to three in front. The contest was soon virtually settled when he made a birdie on the 16th before Sadom dropped a shot on 17 to give his Japanese opponent a five-shot lead playing 18. Kanaya could afford the luxury of missing a 10-foot par putt on the last. Said Kanaya: “Sadom got close, but I played within myself and was able to see it through.” It was arguably the most important win of his career. He turned professional in 2020 after a glittering amateur career that saw him win the 2015 Japan Amateur, the Asia Pacific Amateur in 2018, and the team gold medal at the Asian Games that year. He also won the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters in 2019 as an amateur and was ranked the world’s number one amateur for 55 weeks. In 2020 he was victorious in the Dunlop Phoenix tournament. It was only the third start by Kanaya Sadom Kaewkanjana (FAR LEFT) came close to his third Asian Tour win. Takumi Kanaya (LEFT) won for the first time overseas as a professional. as a professional in an Asian Tour event, and it was his maiden appearance in an International Series tournament. And it proved to be the catalyst for more silverware, as later in the year he triumphed twice in Japan, at the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup and the Fujisankei Classic. For Sadom it was yet another fine tournament which extended a phenomenal run of him having finished in the top-10 on 12 occasions in his last 20 events on the Asian Tour. If not for costly double bogeys on five and nine it could well have been a different story. “I started pretty good with three birdies in a row on holes two, three and four, and then the wind came up,” said Sadom, who finished fourth in the season-opening PIF Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers the week before. “It was a different wind, different conditions, so I’m very happy today to score even par today. Takumi is good player, he deserves it. “I am very happy to finish tied second, so next week maybe will be better than this week.” Henson was delighted with one of his finest performances on the Asian Tour. “I love these conditions; I was hoping for this,” said the American. “Unfortunately, my putting just wasn’t up to standard this week, but I managed my game really well and my ball striking in these conditions was pretty good considering it was just so hard. But I think I had like seven or eight three putts for the week and it looks like that’s gonna cost me.” IT IS AN HONOUR TO WIN THE EVENT, AN INTERNATIONAL SERIES TOURNAMENT. – TAKUMI KANAYA 39