Jakarta: George Gandranata hopes to be the first local golfer to win the US$110,000 Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament presented by Panasonic which tees off on Wednesday.
Gandranata is the first player from Indonesia to win on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) and he is determined to wrestle the title away from defending champion Oscar Zetterwall of Sweden at the Damai Indah Golf, BSD Course.
Current ADT Order of Merit leader Panakorn Uthaipas of Thailand will headline the event alongside Wang Wei-lun of Chinese Taipei, Brett Munson of the United States and reigning ADT Order of Merit champion Casey O’Toole.
Since the inception of the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament, no Indonesian player has won the tournament with James Byrne of Scotland (2014), Michael Tran of Vietnam (2015) and Zetterwall tasting success.
Gandranata hopes to turn the tide this week where he will be joined by local talents Rory Hie, who finished tied fourth in an Asian Tour event earlier this month, Danny Masrin and Ian Andrew.
“We have more tournaments locally and more guys have gone out to play abroad and they have done well. They just haven’t gotten a win yet but I think we are getting closer,” said Gandranata.
“The experience of playing abroad definitely helps but I don’t think it is the main ingredient. It helps to feel the pressure and what to expect when you are up there but you still have to play well especially on this course,” he added.
Gandranata hopes to win his second ADT title this week in front of his home fans after enjoying a sensational victory at the PGM LADA Langkawi Championship in Malaysia last year.
“Now I have the experience of being in contention. I feel some of the other Indonesian golfers are also very close to winning on the ADT. We have a few guys coming into this tournament pretty hot.
“But it won’t be easy. The talents on the ADT are getting better every week. This week, we have a lot of strong players and it helps to play against good competition because it helps improve your game. But I still hope one of us comes through with the victory,” added Gandranata.
By featuring on the ADT schedule, the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament will offer Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points. The winner will receive six OWGR points while the top six players and ties will also earn points based on a sliding scale.
