Samui, Thailand: Defending champion Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand believes the prospect of playing for the Queen\u2019s honour will spur him to do well when the Queen\u2019s Cup returns for its fifth edition at the Santiburi Samui Country Club in Koh Samui from June 13 to 16.<\/p>\n
Thaworn\u2019s victory at the Queen\u2019s Cup last year sparked a magnificent record-breaking season where he won two other tournaments and subsequently became the oldest Asian Tour number one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always an honour for me to play in the Queen\u2019s Cup. I always make it a point to fit that event into my hectic schedule,\u201dsaid the 46-year-old.<\/p>\n
Sanctioned by the Asian Tour, the Queen\u2019s Cup is held in honour of Her Majesty, Queen Sirikit and is one of four tournaments in Thailand to feature on the Asian Tour, which is celebrating its milestone 10th season in 2013.<\/p>\n
Since winning the coveted Merit crown, Thaworn has been the ambassador for the Asian Tour all around the world.<\/p>\n
The Thai ace made an impression at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship in the United States in March shooting early rounds of 69s to feature on the leaderboard before slipping back to tied 53rd position over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Thaworn also received an invitation to play at the Masters Tournament courtesy of his merit win on the Asian Tour.<\/p>\n
While he has plied his trade across the globe, it is the homecoming event at Queen\u2019s Cup which gets him excited and psyched up for.<\/p>\n
\u201cBesides the prestige, the Queen\u2019s Cup also gives me the opportunity to play at home and in front of the local crowd. It\u2019s always a good feeling to return to defend your title and I\u2019m looking forward to the strong challenge again,\u201d said Thaworn.<\/p>\n
Compatriot Chinnarat Phadungsil, who became the youngest winner on the Asian Tour when he won his first title on home soil in 2005 at the age of 17 years and five days, will also return to the Queen\u2019s Cup for another shot at winning his fourth title on the region\u2019s premier Tour.<\/p>\n
Since staking his place in the history books eight years ago, Chinnarat has continued to create headlines with his performances on the golf course.<\/p>\n
He started the season strongly especially in India where he was only one shot away from equalling the Asian Tour\u2019s low 18-hole score record after firing an opening 61 at the Avantha Masters in March.<\/p>\n
The Thai\u2019s last win on the Asian Tour came at the Queen\u2019s Cup in 2009 and he will be looking for a repeat again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a long time since I last won. I\u2019ve been in contention on several occasions this season and I just couldn\u2019t finish it off the way that I had wanted to. But I\u2019ll keep pressing on and hopefully I\u2019ll be able to win again,\u201d said Chinnarat.<\/p>\n
Chinnarat will also be banking on home comfort as he seeks to end his four-year title drought.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like playing at home as it gives me the opportunity to play in front of familiar surroundings. It\u2019s going to be exciting at the Queen\u2019s Cup for me,\u201d said Chinnarat.<\/p>\n
Other Asian Tour stars expected to mount a strong challenge for the Queen\u2019s Cup include Singapore\u2019s Mardan Mamat, India\u2019s Jyoti Randahawa, an eight-time Asian Tour winner and Malaysia\u2019s Danny Chia.<\/p>\n
The Queen\u2019s Cup is sponsored by Bangkok Airways, Sport Authority of Thailand (SAT) and Santiburi Samui Country Club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Samui, Thailand: Defending champion Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand believes the prospect of playing for the Queen\u2019s honour will spur him to do well when the Queen\u2019s Cup returns for its fifth edition at the Santiburi Samui Country Club in Koh Samui from June 13 to 16.<\/p>\n
Thaworn\u2019s victory at the Queen\u2019s Cup last year sparked a magnificent record-breaking season where he won two other tournaments and subsequently became the oldest Asian Tour number one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always an honour for me to play in the Queen\u2019s Cup. I always make it a point to fit that event into my hectic schedule,\u201dsaid the 46-year-old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world-golf-news"],"yoast_head":"\n