Sentosa, Singapore: New Asian Tour champions Chan Shih-Chang of Chinese Taipei, Spaniard Carlos Pigem, Korea’s Jeunghun Wang and Thitiphun Chuayprakong of Thailand hope to continue their winning form at the Omega European Masters next week.
Chan, winner of the King’s Cup presented by PTT in Thailand last month, Wang, already a two-time winner this season and Thitiphun, who won in Bangladesh earlier this year, will be shooting to become the first Asian winner of the prestigious tournament.
Pigem broke through for his first Asian Tour victory at the recent Yeangder Tournament Players Championship in Taipei and will also feature in the €2.7 million (approximately US$3 million) event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.
Asian Tour regular Paul Peterson of the United States, who won the Czech Open on the European Tour last week, will also be hoping to extend his rich vein of form at the Cran Sur Sierre Golf Club.
Olympians Marcus Fraser of Australia, who is the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand will be among those contending for the coveted title.
With his breakthrough victory, Peterson became the eighth Asian Tour member to win on the European Tour this season, joining Marcus Fraser, Scott Hend, S.S.P. Chawrasia, Soomin Lee, Jeunghun Wang, Thongchai Jaidee and Chan Shih-chang.
“The win is definitely life-changing. I’ve got a place to play for a while and hopefully I can keep on a roll on the European Tour, be one of the guys at the top of the Race to Dubai and play those big events,” said the 28-year-old Peterson.
Chan will make his debut at the Omega European Masters, thanks to his victory at the King’s Cup. He will also represent Chinese Taipei at the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne this November alongside C.T. Pan.
“It has always been my dream to win on the Asian Tour and I did it. The future is bright and I can only look forward from here,” said Chan, one of the game’s rising stars.
Title holder and Masters Tournament champion Danny Willett and Lee Westwood, both from England, will also be amongst the favourites to win the Omega European Masters, which is the only tournament on European soil to be jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.
This year’s Omega European Masters will be the 70th time the event will be staged at the picturesque Crans course which is set amidst the Swiss Alps. The tournament is the longest running at the same venue in Europe and second in the world after The Masters at Augusta National.
