Langkawi: Muhammad Arie Irawan Ahmad Fauzi hopes to quickly find his feet on the paid ranks as he makes his domestic professional debut at the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Lada Langkawi Masters on Thursday.

The highly-rated rookie will be among a talented cast assembled at the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) event which is co-sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour (ADT) and the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour.

Arie, who earned his PGM Tour card at a satellite tour event in Lanjut last week, said he is prepared to raise his game after missing the chance to earn an Asian Tour card at January’s Qualifying School when he faded with a closing 78.

“After that experience I learnt how important it is to stay patient and that golf doesn’t reward you all the time. There are negative and positives because you don’t know what to expect. Anything can happen in golf,” noted the 22-year-old, who missed the cut at the Asian Tour’s Solaire Open a fortnight ago.

“The most important thing for me is to believe in myself and play to my best ability. If I can do that, then I’m quite confident that I can score. Honestly, I have no goals this week. I just want to stay in the present and not get ahead of myself.”

The University of Tulsa graduate will make his first appearance on the ADT as a professional at the Gunung Raya Golf Resort. He played at the season-opening PGM-CCM Rahman Putra Masters as an amateur but missed the halfway cut.

“The ADT is another chance to make it into the Qualifying School Final Stage or even to earn an Asian Tour card (with a top-three finish on the Order of Merit). It is good that the PGM has a lot of co-sanction events with the ADT because I believe Malaysians have a slight advantage as it is easier to travel around. The ADT is a good stepping stone for young players,” he said.

Arie believes the humidity and steamy conditions will play a crucial part to determine the winner of this week’s ADT event, which is staged for the first time on the beautiful holiday-isle of Langkawi. “The course condition is really nice. The challenge here will be the heat and the walking because it is quite hilly. Langkawi is a really nice place to be in. The scenery here is great. I feel that I’m ready for the challenge.”

James Bowen of the United States, the current ADT Order of Merit leader, Grant Jackson of England, who won his first ADT title two weeks ago in Johor and former Walker Cup star James Byrne of Scotland will headline the event. The Malaysian challenge will be spearheaded by Shaaban Hussin, Iain Steel, S. Murthy and reigning PGM Tour Order of Merit champion Nicholas Fung.