Thai-Japanese amateur Koukuke Hamamoto will lead the local challenge at the 55th Putra Cup in Khon Kaen this week.
Koukuke Hamamoto.
The annual tournament will be held at Singha Park Khon Kaen Golf Club from Sept 15-18 and the Thais are expected to perform well after a run of recent success. However, three of the four players in the gold medal-winning SEA Games team have turned professional.
“Depsite a number of new players, I'm confident in the quality of the team and think we still have a good chance," said team manager Kanes Nitiwanakul.
Joining Hamamoto are Kammalas Namangruk, Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng and Sadom Kaekanjana.
Hamamoto, 17, has been in great form lately. In April, he beat European Tour star Nicolas Colsaerts in a play-off to win the Singha Classic in Nakhon Nayok and then won the title at the Sports Hero event in Chon Buri.
In the Santi Cup, Thailand will be represented by Kanyalk Preedasutthijit, Pimnipa Panthong and Manuschaya Zeemakorn.
At last year’s edition in Brunei, Thailand won three events while the Philippines grabbed the Santi Cup.