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Prayad has two Masters objectives

Thai star Prayad Marksaeng knows he has one last throw of the dice in his quest to qualify for the US Masters when he competes in the inaugural Black Mountain Masters in his hometown of Hua Hin next week.

An impressive tied 13th finish at last week’s WGC-CA Championship in the United States has moved Prayad up to 51st place on the Official World Golf Ranking but he needs to break into the top-50 by the first week of April to qualify for the year’s first Major at Augusta National.

A strong finish at the Black Mountain Golf Club would help him achieve his goal but Prayad will instead shoot for victory in the town where he grew up in poverty before going on to become one of Asia’s best players.

“It’s great to have a new Asian Tour tournament in Hua Hin. It has been quite a long time that we’ve had a big event in my home town. It will be a great week. And if a Hua Hin native can win the tournament, it would be perfect,” said Prayad.

He reckons the elite field will face a tough challenge at the highly rated Black Mountain course, which is title sponsoring the new US$500,000 Asian Tour tournament.

“The Black Mountain course is very nice. I have played there on several occasions and it is quite challenging because of its length. The greens are fairly large and you’ll need to hit plenty of greens in regulation to put up a good score. I reckon playing conditions will be tough during the tournament week,” said Prayad.

As a child, Prayad walked across a golf course to get to school and made his own golf club with a bamboo and some scrap metal. Despite his humble beginnings, he has now become one of the Asian Tour’s leading names, winning six times in Asia and three times in Japan as well.

The smooth-swinging Thai has not forgotten his roots and plans to put up a show for his fans.

“I would like my fans to see me play some good golf. It will be a lot of fun at the Black Mountain Masters as I am playing well. I’ll be thinking of winning next week,” said the 43-year-old, who was the joint first round leader in the CA Championship.

He added that it was tremendous for Black Mountain to back a new tournament on the Asian Tour.

“It is great that we have another new event in Thailand. The economy is down but golf in Thailand is up. This offers a chance for the new generation of players to gain experience apart from competing in local events,” said Prayad.

“Golf can help to promote tourism in Thailand and Hua Hin. There are a lot of interesting places in Hua Hin and I’m proud to call it my hometown.”

Other top names competing in the Black Mountain Masters include current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader Anthony Kang of the United States, Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand, Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik and Johan Edfors.

The full-field Asian Tour event will also see many top sponsors including PTT, Federbrau, TAT and Hua Hin Hoteliers Club supporting the Black Mountain Masters.

March 20, 2009