The Asian Tour’s rising stars, led by new winners Yikeun Chang of Korea and Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana, will head to Kota Kinabalu next week for the inaugural Sabah Masters. The US$300,000 event take places at the seaside Sutera Harbour Golf & Country Club on November 21 to 24.
The Asian Tour has enjoyed a fantastic 2019 season in terms of first-time winners, welcoming 12 so far with five of them aged below 30 years old – including Chang (25) and Sadom (21), who claimed their breakthroughs in Taiwan and Bangladesh respectively. They will join the likes of Indonesia’s Rory Hie, Thailand’s Panuphol Pittayarat, American Micah Lauren Shin and homegrown talent Ben Leong.
Asian Development Tour (ADT) Order of Merit leader Joohyung Kim of Korea will also feature in the 144-player field. The talented 17-year-old has enjoyed a superb run on the ADT, winning three titles this year to earn his Asian Tour card for the remainder of the 2019 season.
Supported by Tourism Malaysia, the Sabah Masters is the ninth full-field event on the Asian Tour and the tour’s third stop in Malaysia this season. The highly-anticipated tournament also features on the 2019 calendar of the domestic PGM Tour, with whom the Asian Tour sanctions numerous events on a yearly basis.
The Asian Tour last visited Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the East Malaysian state of Sabah, in December 2007 when it hosted the tour’s qualifying school at multiple locations. Leong topped the class in front of his home supporters that year for his second straight qualifying school win.
Designed by Graham Marsh, Sutera Harbour boasts 27 holes for day and night golfing and has garnered various awards over the years. The tournament will be held on the Lakes and Heritage courses.
Sutera Harbour
