Singh favourite at Volvo Masters
BY Bruce Young | Asian Tour | 2008 Volvo Masters of Asia | Preview | 17 Dec 2008
The Volvo Masters of Asia will bring to an end the 2008 Asian Tour schedule and while the Order of Merit title has already been secured by Jeev Milkha Singh, there is still a lot to play for at the Dennis Griffiths designed Thai Country Club in Bangkok.
The leading 68 players from the Asian Tour money list are in Thailand playing for the US$750,000 purse including 17 Australasians.
The field is headed by Jeev Milkha Singh, who has won twice in Japan this year, once on the Asian Tour and once in Europe. Singh has been brilliant in golf worldwide this season. Not only has he recorded the four wins but there have been many other impressive finishes in leading events and he deserves to be the favourite this week. At his last start he won the Golf Nippon Series in Tokyo against the Japan Golf Tour’s best.
Lin Wen-Tang has won twice on the Asian Tour this season one of those at the recent Hong Kong Open which now qualifies him for European Tour status. The 34 year old from Chinese Taipei has been a winner and twice runner up in recent starts and if that level of form was to continue it would be no surprise.
Mark Brown’s status in world golf this season has been elevated so quickly that he is still finding his feet at the higher level. When he does however he will be winning again. He showed glimpses of his earlier form at the Australian Open last week when securing his Australasian Tour money list title there and while he cannot head the Asian Tour money list, a victory this week would move him ahead of Wen-Tang and into second position. That would be the culmination of quite a year for the New Zealander.
David Gleeson’s game and results have undergone a transformation in the past few weeks. He has catapulted into 5th place on the money list with a win in Macau, a 4th place finish in Singapore and a 6th in Hong Kong. The 1996 Australian Amateur Champion is finally realising the potential and talent he has always possessed and his ongoing form this week will be watched with interest.
Other Australasians, Kane Webber, Adam Blyth, Scott Hend, Darren Beck, Scott Barr, Mitchell Brown, Marcus Both, Gavin Flint, Terry Pilkadaris, Tony Carolan, Andrew Dodt, Unho Park, David Bransdon, Rick Kulacz and Neven Basic have all done well enough this season to play their way into this field.
