Talk about Golfing talent and Thailand has a stream of players who have carved a niche for themselves in the international Golfing terrain. The latest to join the bandwagon is 21-year-old Nitithorn Thippong who might become the youngest Order of Merit champion on the ADT.

 

 

 

 

Thippong hopes to stretch his lead on the current Asian Development Tour (ADT) Order of Merit by putting on a good showing at the Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament presented by Panasonic which starts on Wednesday.

 

 

A victory at the BSD Course by Damai Indah Golf this week will move him closer towards his goal of becoming the third player from Thailand, following Pavit Tangkamolprasert (2014) and Pannakorn Uthaipas (2017), to top the Merit rankings on the region’s secondary circuit.

 

 

Should he achieve the feat, the 21-year-old Nitithorn will also become the youngest Order of Merit champion on the ADT, which has proven to be a great stepping stone for aspiring players to get onto the Asian Tour since it was inaugurated in 2010.

 

 

Nitithorn, who has been plying his trade on the ADT since he turned professional in 2015, is enjoying the best season yet in his career. In just eight starts on the ADT this season, Nitithorn has claimed one victory and six top-10s to take his place atop the Order of Merit.

 

 

 

 

He will be vying for honours alongside countryman Pannakorn as well as Singapore’s Johnson Poh, Japan’s Shohei Hasegawa and Miguel Carballo of Argentina, placed third, fourth and fifth respectively on the current money list, in the US$110,000 event.

 

 

 

“I have been playing great this season. I don’t feel stressed when I play golf now, not like how it was for me the past few years. I have been telling myself to just have fun on the course and play to my best ability and the results have been good so far!

 

 

“I have been practising very hard. I am going to the gym more often as well. I am glad the efforts are paying off. The aim is to win three times on the ADT this year and I should be in a good position to win the Order of Merit,” said Nitithorn, who leads the money list with a current haul of US$23,603.

 

 

“This week’s course is pretty wide so it won’t be too difficult for everyone. The scores were pretty low the last two years so hopefully my putter will be hot this week. I am aiming for a top-five finish this week and I will try to have fun out there as that’s the most important,” he added.

 

Nitithorn, whose younger brother Pisitchai also plays on the ADT, reckoned that the discipline instilled by their common coach Kittipong Sritongkul has played an important role in his improvement this season.

 

“I have been working with my coach since I was 12. He had to go back to his hometown when I was 15 but we kept in touch when he was away and he will come to Bangkok once in a while too. It was only last October that we started working together full time again.

 

“He didn’t really change much about my swing and my game. But he made me feel more disciplined to practice hard. He changed the way I practice and my lifestyle changed as well. I think that was what helped me a lot,” Nitithorn said.

 

The Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament, which is celebrating its fifth consecutive edition on the ADT this week, is the 15th leg of the 2018 season and the second to be played in Indonesia this year.