Panasonic SWING, Season 2 TOURNAMENT REPORT

The Panasonic OPEN INDIA is the 2nd Panasonic SWING tournament. Tied at the end of the third day, Khalin Joshi (India) and Siddikur Rahman (Bangladesh) battled it out to on the final day. With a birdie on the 18th hole, 26-year-old Joshi came from behind on his home turf to score his first Asian Tour victory. Rahman finished a stroke behind in second place.

As the top-scoring Indian player, Joshi has earned the right to compete in the Panasonic OPEN tournament planned for 2019 in Japan. Among the Japanese players Yutaka Araki finished in a 10th place tie with a score of 10-under par. In the current Panasonic SWING rankings, Panuphol Pittayarat (Thailand), who won the Thai competition in June, added 38.0 points to his score with his 52nd place finish to keep his overall 1st place position. Khalin Joshi’s victory in India earned him 1800 points, bringing him to 2nd place, while Rahman took home 1136.0 points to land in 3rd.

The BNI Indonesian Masters was held as the 3rd Panasonic SWING tournament in Jakarta. 144 players, including Justin Rose (England), defending champion and gold medalist at the Rio Olympic Games, and silver medalist Henrik Stenson (Sweden), went for the victory of the final tournament on the Asian Tour for the 2018 season. Shugo Imahira, the winner of the Japan Golf Tour Organization Money List in 2018, played against top overseas pros along with other 4 Japanese contenders.

After shooting to victory in the 2016 tournament, Poom Saksansin (Thailand) kept his lead with three strokes at the end of the second day, winning with 20 under par. He also topped the Panasonic SWING rankings with a total of 2900.0 points. Panuphol Pittayarat (Thailand), who won the Panasonic SWING competition in Thailand, and Khalin Joshi (India), the winner of Panasonic OPEN INDIA, also boosted their totals, following Saksansin with 2468.0 points and 1867.0 points respectively.

Danny Masrin, the highest scorer from the host country with 64th tie finish, got the right to compete in the Panasonic OPEN tournament will be held on September, 2019 in Japan.

Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour, the Maybank Championship is the fourth Panasonic SWING tournament. High-level players such as 2018 Rider Cup Team Europe captain Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), four-time major championships winner Ernie Els (South Africa) competed to get the championship.

The game was suspended due to a sudden thunderstorm that broke out as the final group reached the 18th hole green on the final day of the competition. After 1 hour 41 minutes break, Nacho Elvira (Spain) nailed his 30 feet birdie putt to take the lead with a score of 15-under par and forced the playoffs, but on the first playoff hole, Scott Hend (Australia) made the winning birdie putt to bring the competition to a close. Consecutive dramatic moments attracted more than 40,000 spectators during the tournament days.

Nicholas Fung was tied at 15th with 8-under par, making him the highest scoring Malaysian player, which earned him the exemption to compete at the Panasonic OPEN Japan.

In the Panasonic SWING rankings, Thai players are in the lead. Indonesian Masters winner Poom Saksansin (Thailand) added 19.0 points to his score for his 60th-place tie in Malaysia, bringing his total to 2919.0 points and keeping his lead. Winner of the Thai Open, Panuphol Pittayarat (Thailand), follows in second with 2468.0 points. Jazz Janewattananond (Thailand), who finished 3rd in Malaysia, is also 3rd in the SWING rankings with 2270.9 points.

The points awarded will be 1.5 times higher than the four previous tournaments at the final SWING match, the 2019 Panasonic OPEN Golf Championship in Japan in September. This means that the champion will earn 2,700 points. There are currently a total of 33 players with over 219.0 points, all of whom have a chance at the overall victory.

The final competition of the Panasonic SWING series, the Panasonic OPEN Golf Championship, was held from September 26 to 29 at the Higashihirono Golf Club in Hyogo, Japan. Players from 22 countries and regions from around the world were in attendance.

The top scorer at the end of the third day was Toshinori Muto, a veteran golfer in his 19th year of professional golfing. Feats such as four consecutive birdies earned him a score of 64 on the third day, leading 14 under par. Second place went to Shugo Imahira, the gold prize winner of last year’s Japan Golf Tour, at just one shot below Muto.

On the final day, Muto kept up his momentum from the day before, racing out in front with consecutive birdies on the first and second hole. He hit a bogey on the 15th hole, but had reached 21 under par by the time he finished, beating second-place winner Imahira by a massive four shots to win his first tour in four years.