Kiradech Aphibarnrat talked about the possibility of a first Asian champion of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters after the big-hitting Thai carded a six-under-par 66 in the first round of the European Tour event yesterday.
Koreans Wang Jeunghun—playing with Kiradech—and Lee Soomin, and China No. 1 Li Haotong all carded 69 on their tournament debuts, while India’s SSP Chawrasia carded a 70.
Kiradech, 27, started his year with a tie for fourth last week in Abu Dhabi alongside Martin Kaymer and Bernd Wiesberger—the trio finishing two shots behind winner Tommy
Fleetwood.
All four players, as well as joint runner-up Pablo Larrazábal, are competing this week and Kiradech—a three-time European Tour winner—said he’s continuing from where he left off.
“This week, there are a lot of top players in the field so I’m going to have to work hard and who knows, there might be a first Asian champion,” said Kiradech, who’s playing the first two rounds with Wang and 2016 Asian Tour No. 1 Scott Hend.
“My game was solid today. From last week until now, I’ve hit a lot of good shots and even when I hit a bad shot, I can still recover.
“In fact, we were all doing great today. Scott and Wang are good friends and we all played together on the Asian Tour. Asian players have been improving, especially playing in the wind and on longer courses. In a couple of years, I think you’ll see more Asian players on the European Tour,” the Thai added.
Li, who finished behind Wang in the 2016 European Tour Rookie of the Year rankings, played down talk of winning on his first appearance in Qatar, but the 21-year-old admitted he enjoyed playing with 10-time European Tour winner Graeme McDowell for the first time.
“Graeme is a nice guy and a birdie machine! I really enjoyed playing with him. We talked a lot about his experience and funny things,” said Li, who played on the Web.com Tour in 2015 before becoming a full-time European Tour member last April after his China Open victory.
“My game today surprised me because it was my first round of the year and I thought I wouldn’t play that great. My ball striking was good and has given me a little bit of confidence.
“I’m lucky there was no wind. I think I can keep playing well. My driver was really good and I hit a lot of fairways, but I missed a few putts.
“I still need to work on the pace of my putts. I just want to take it easy because it’s my first event of the year. First, I want to make the cut,” he added.

India’s Chawrasia opens with two-under 70
As India marked its Republic Day yesterday, SSP Chawrasia gave golf fans in the country further reason to celebrate with a two-under-par opening round of 70 at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Chawrasia, 38, started the day brightly with a birdie on the par-five first but the three-time European Tour winner suffered a setback on the seventh where he bagged a triple-bogey.
However, the Kolkata-born star recovered spectacularly by firing birdies on 10, 13, 15 and 17 to give himself a solid start in his sixth appearance in the tournament, but first since 2013 when he finished 49th.
Chawrasia, India’s third-ranked player behind PGA Tour star Anirban Lahiri and Gaganjeet Bhullar, was delighted with his recovery after admitting he was inundated with good luck messages in the morning.
“It’s Republic Day, so I got a lot of messages this morning and I replied to many of them. Everybody in India must be very happy today — and I am, too!” laughed Chawrasia, who played alongside Asian Tour friends David Lipsky of the USA and Lee Soomin of South Korea.
“I’m really happy to come back after a triple bogey on the seventh. I hit a drive left and my ball was in a lot of stones so I took a penalty drop and then chipped out. On the fourth shot, I hit the green then three putted from over 30 feet.
“After that, I told myself that I can still save the round as there are many holes left and I then made a few birdies on the back nine and came back. I’m looking forward to another round. I’m two-under right now and obviously I’m looking for a good finish. There are three days and many holes left. I have a good chance if I keep putting well,” he added. Chawrasia, India’s sole representative in the event, will tee off at 11.10am on hole 10 in the second round today.