Kuching: Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Chi-hsien will be shooting for back-to-back wins in the Asian Development Tour’s (ADT) Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Sarawak Masters starting on Thursday to keep alive his dream of graduating onto the region’s elite circuit.
The RM180,000 (approximately US$60,000) Sarawak Masters, the 10th leg of the season, is the first ADT tournament to be played in Sarawak The ADT will return to the East Malaysian state for the Eastwood Valley Masters later this month.
The top-five players on the Order of Merit will feature in the Sarawak Masters this week along with Malaysia’s leading players such as Shaaban Hussin,Nicholas Fung, Sukree Othman, R. Nachimuthu and S. Sivachandhran, who won the ADT Order of Merit in the inaugural 2010 season.
Filipino Jay Bayron, ranked second, and third-ranked Peter Richardson of England will tee up at the Sarawak Golf Club with the hope of retaining their positions. Lindsay Renolds of Canada, Australian Luke Bleumink, England’s Grant Jackson and Singapore’s Quincy Quek, who are all in the top-10 of the Order of Merit, will also feature in Kuching.
Hsieh, 22, claimed a breakthrough triumph in the Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship on home soil to move into top spot on the Order of Merit in August. With the ADT season coming to a close where the top-three players will earn cards on the Asian Tour in 2013, Hsieh is hopeful he can achieve his goal.
“I’m aiming to finish in the top-three to get my Asian Tour card. That’s my main goal. The ADT is very good. It is awesome because young players like me will get a chance to gain more experience.
“The win in Taipei will definitely give me more confidence,” said the 22-year-old, who earned the right to play on the ADT by competing in the Qualifying School in Thailand in January.
Hsieh, who turned professional early this year, is highly rated in Taipei with the likes of multiple Asian Tour champion Lin Wen-tang predicting a very bright future for the young player.
“He is very dedicated to the game and works hard. I am not surprised to see him leading the ADT Order of Merit,” said Lin, who was beaten by Hsieh in the Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship which featured many of Chinese Taipei’s top players including Yeh Wei-tze and Chan Yih-shin, both Asian Tour winners.
Singaporean Quek is determined to make a title charge following his win at the ICTSI Orchard Golf Championship in the Philippines in August. “It’s a great feeling to bag your first win. Confidence levels are definitely up. But this also means that I must continue to work even harder,” he said.
