2007 Fortis International Challenge

Thai star Thongchai Jaidee tees up in the Fortis International Challenge on Thursday where he will attempt to complete a missing link in his glittering career.

The two-time Asian Tour number one forms a formidable partnership with Prayad Marksaeng where the Thais are firm favourites to clinch one of five tickets at stake to the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China in November.

In a career which has yielded eight titles in the region and seen him play in all four Majors, Thongchai has surprisingly never featured previously in the World Cup but he will be aiming to set the record straight.

“We feel confident of finishing in the top five. Prayad’s game is perfect now and I like my game as well. We want to get to China and that’s my goal for this week. We have a good chance,” said Thongchai.

Thongchai altered his playing schedule to compete in the Fortis International Challenge after he agonizingly missed out on an automatic slot to the World Cup by one rung from the Official World Golf Ranking, which determined the 18 exempt nations.

“I was told that Prayad wanted to play three weeks ago and I cancelled some tournaments in Europe to play here,” said Thongchai. “I’ve played with Prayad two times previously (in the Dynasty Cup) and we’ve done well together.”

Prayad, a five-time winner in Asia, is also oozing with confidence, especially returning to a course where he jointly holds the course record of nine-under-par 63 shot in 2001. In that round, he fired eight straight birdies.

“I like this course. I’ve always played well here and have put in a lot of top-10s. I think we’ve got a good chance to qualify for the World Cup. We feel confident. Right now, my game is good, it’s nearly perfect,” said Prayad, who is bidding for his second World Cup appearance.

A total of 17 nations from Asia, Europe and Africa will compete in the Fortis International Challenge and amongst the favourites to finish top five include the Singaporean team represented by Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat, winners of the last two qualifiers in Malaysia.

“We qualified two years ago on this golf course, so we are very comfortable with it. We know the course well so it is a matter of going out there and executing our shots,” said a confident Lam, who reinforced his good play by winning the Fortis Pro-Am on Wednesday.

“There are a lot of good teams out there but the good thing is that there are going to be five slots available. However, having said that, you still have to play well to qualify. So hopefully, we can do that over the next four days,” added Lam.

Team Malaysia will be looking to make their first World Cup appearance in six years and will be banking on the new combination of Iain Steel and Airil Rizman, this year’s Pakistan Open champion.

“I’m very happy and excited to be playing for Malaysia,” said Airil. “On top of that, I’ve got a very good partner and we’re looking forward to doing our best and hopefully finishing on top. I took the week off last week to work on some things and hopefully it’ll show some results this weekend.”

Steel, who is of Malaysian-Scottish parentage, said that they are banking on their similar playing styles to steer them to China. He will also be aiming to be third time lucky as he failed to qualify in the last two years with Danny Chia.

“Airil and I have similar games. We can club off each other a little bit better. We hit the same distances off the tee. He might be a little longer with the irons but off the tee, we’re the same. So we can get momentum going that way,” said Steel.

“It’s always a goal to get to the World Cup. We’ll try to win this week but if that doesn’t happen, top five is always good. It’ll be interesting if we can get to China and get a pairing with Scotland. That’ll be nice. But we’ve got to take it one step at a time first,” said Steel.

With all eyes on the hot favourites, the relatively unknown team from Russia, Korchak Igor and Ostankov Victor, will be hoping to spring a surprise in their first visit to Malaysia.

“Both Igor and I are already getting used to the course here. We are both big hitters and have been playing very well recently. We just have to watch our shots and make sure that they do not go astray,” said Victor.

The Asian Tour is staging the Fortis International Challenge on behalf of the International Federation of PGA Tours. The event will use the fourball (better ball) format in the first and third rounds and foursomes (alternate shot) in the second and final rounds.

A total of 18 teams have qualified automatically for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup through the Official World Golf Rankings with the remaining 10 places being decided through qualifying in Asia and South America.

Teams:

Chinese Taipei (Lin Wen-tang, Lin Wen-hong)
Ghana (Emos Korblah, Victor Brave Mensah)
Holland (Robert-Jan Derksen, Maarten Lafeber)
Hong Kong (James Stewart, Wong Woon Man)
Korea (Lee Sung, Lee Seung-ho)
Myanmar (Zaw Moe, Soe Kyaw Naing)
Malaysia (Iain Steel, Airil Rizman)
Mauritius (Billy Narraina, Vishnoo Seeneevassen)
New Zealand (Stephen Scahill, Richard Lee)
Pakistan (Muhammad Munir, Matloob Ahmed)
Philippines (Tony Lascuna, Gerald Rosales)
Russia (Korchak Igor, Ostankov Victor)
Singapore (Lam Chih Bing, Mardan Mamat)
Switzerland (Martin Rominger, Robert Wiederkehr)
Slovenia (Andrej Kraljic, Janez Grilc)
Thailand (Thongchai Jaidee, Prayad Marksaeng)
Uganda (Deo Akope, Godfrey Mande)

September 26, 2007

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