Thai amateur marvel Ratchanon "TK" Chantananuwat will add another feather in his cap this week when he competes in the Asian Tour's first ever mixed event, the US$750,000 Asian Mixed Cup.
The tournament tees off today at Siam Country Club in Pattaya and is being jointly sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET).
"I am very excited -- this is definitely something different," said the 15-year-old prodigy.
"I am going to assume a lot of the ladies here can bomb it! I am not going to overlook the importance of making the cut as there could be 40 ladies who make the cut this week and that's going to be tough.
"If I make the cut, then I am going for the win. There's a lot of world ranking points this week so I am going to get as many as I can."
Making the cut has never been an issue for Ratchanon: he has made it through to the weekend in all six events he has played in since the end of last year. He nearly won one of them, the Singapore International, where he was third.
Ratchanon is paired with Norway's Marianne Skarpnord, a five-time LET winner, and Ursula Wikstrom from Finland for the first two days.
There's no doubt the teen titan will impress, although he has been bogged down with studying and preparing for exams recently. "Honestly, I have been up to a lot of schoolwork, so haven't had as much chance to do some serious practice," he said.
"Over the weekend and past few days, I have been doing a bit more golf, so I am getting more and more ready. I still need to put in a little more work at the range today, but I should be ready by tomorrow."
In his last outing on the Asian Tour, he tied for 11th in the International Series Thailand last month.
This week's ground-breaking tournament features 60 Asian Tour players and 60 LET stars, along with 24 sponsor invitations, playing for the same prize fund and trophy.
The only difference is the women are playing off forward tees.
Competitors will stay on for the Asian Mixed Stableford Challenge next week at the same venue.