Honey Baisoya Lone Indian to Earn Asian Tour Card from Q-School

Hua Hin (Thailand), Feb 23 (PTI) Indian golfer Honey Baisoya, a six-time winner on the PGTI Tour, on Sunday earned an Asian Tour card by finishing T-23 in the gruelling five-round 2020 Asian Tour Qualifying School here.

The 23-year-old Baisoya, who has played in Asian Tour events at home and some outside, will now get to play a decent number of Asian Tour events this season.

Baisoya, who played junior golf alongside Shubhankar Sharma and often beat him, shot rounds of 69-67-70-70-72 for a total of seven-under 348 and finished T-23 in the 90-hole qualifiers.

He was the only Indian to earn the card from the 18 who started the week. Nine of them survived the first cut, which fell after 36 holes, and a further four missed the second cut, which came after four rounds.

In the fifth and final round, the Top-70 included five Indians fighting for the 35 cards. Only Baisoya made the card from them.

Veer Ahlawat (70-71-68-70-72) was four-under and T-40, while Khalin Joshi (72-67-70-72-71) and Yashas Chandra (72-72-67-69-72) were three-under for T-52nd. Manu Gandas (71-72-67-71-75) was one-over and T-64th.

The 35 graduates feature players from Korea (8), Thailand (6), Australia (5), South Africa (3), Sweden (3), United States (2), Japan (2), France (1), India (1), Ireland (1), Myanmar (1), Philippines (1) and Zimbabwe (1).

Zimbabwean Benjamin Follett-Smith restored his much-needed confidence after closing with a one-under-par 70 to finish top of the class with a one-shot victory.

Playing in his third straight attempt at the Qualifying School, the 23-year-old led the gruelling 90-hole battle from the second round before carding three birdies against two bogeys for a five-day total of 15-under-par 340 at the Lake View Resort and Golf Club.

Follett-Smith, a one-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, was among the 35 graduates, who successfully secured their Asian Tour cards for the 2020 season after finishing inside top-35 and ties at the conclusion of the fifth and final round which was held on the A&B course.

Australian Will Heffernan, who had advanced from the First Stage of the Qualifying School last week, made it a memorable two-week run after signing for a solid 66 to take second place.

Sweden's Malcolm Kokocinski successfully regained his Tour card after enduring a disappointing 2019 season. A closing 71 saw him share third place on 343 with 19-year-old Burmese Hein Sithu, who lived up to expectations by closing with a second straight 69.

Other notable graduates include Filipino veteran Antonio Lascuna, Korean hotshot Bio Kim, as well as former Asian Tour champions Scott Strange of Australia, Natipong Srithong of Thailand and Masanori Kobayashi of Japan.

The 2020 Asian Tour Qualifying School, which comprised of two stages – First Stage and Final stage, attracted a total of 458 entries from 37 countries across the globe.

Players who compete in the 2020 Qualifying School will also be eligible to play on the Asian Development Tour (ADT), which was launched in 2010 as a gateway to the premier Asian Tour.

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