Chinese Taipei: China’s Ye Jian-feng will be part of the international field ready to compete against the leading players from Chinese Taipei at the Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship which tees off on Thursday.
The US$110,000 Asian Development Tour (ADT) event is making its welcome return to the ADT schedule this week and will be held at the resplendent Sunrise Golf and Country Club for the very first time this week.
Ye, who missed out on securing his full Asian Tour playing rights when he finished outside the top-40 at Qualifying School in January, will be hoping to make an impression on the ADT and play his way back to the region’s premier Tour.
The Chinese inked his place in the Tour’s record books by being the youngest ever player to compete in an Asian Tour event when he teed up in the 2004 Sanya Open in China as a 13-year-old.
Current ADT Order of Merit leader, James Bowen of the United States, who leads with his season’s haul of US$30,725, is looking for a third victory to cement his lead atop the merit list.
Should Bowen wins again this week, he will take home the winner’s cheque of US$19,250 and set a new record by becoming the player with the highest earnings compiled in a single season on the ADT.
Other players who will lead the international field include Malaysia’s Nicholas Fung, England’s Grant Jackson and Singapore’s Quincy Quek.
Chinese Taipei’s Lu Wei-chih will step up to the tee for this first time since his last international appearance at the Queen’s Cup in June last year.
The two-time Asian Tour winner has been on medical leave, recovering from a brain tumour surgery which was carried out in August last year.
Lu will be among the strong line-up of local hopefuls who include veteran Lin Wen-tang, a six-time Asian Tour winner and winner of the 2010 Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship, defending champion Hsieh Chi-hsien and Hung Chien-yao, who secured his Asian Tour card at the Qualifying School this year.
The Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship will provide the region’s rising stars another opportunity to improve their world rankings as all ADT events receive Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points starting this year, which is a huge boost for players.
Winners on the ADT will receive a minimum of six world ranking points while the top six players and ties will earn points based on a sliding scale.
The OWGR will be used to determine the 60-man field at the World Cup of Golf in Australia this November and the Olympics in Rio De Janeiro in 2016.
A total of 144 players will compete in the Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship this week, with the field being split between the ADT and Taiwan PGA.
The Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship will be the 10th leg of the 2013 ADT season.
A total of 14 tournaments have been confirmed this season, which is a record for the ADT since its inauguration in 2010.
The ADT was launched in 2010 with five tournaments before growing to eight in 2011 and 13 last year. It has proven to be a successful platform for upcoming players to gain entry into the region’s premier Tour, which is celebrating its milestone 10th season in 2013.
Created along the lines of the European Challenge Tour and Web.com Tour in the United States, the ADT will reward the top-three players on the final Order of Merit with Asian Tour cards for the following year.
