Thai teen golfer Ratchanon is youngest-ever tournament winner

Thailand’s golfing future looks brighter than ever. Ratchanon Chantananuwat, a 15-year-old amateur, became the youngest male ever to win a tournament on a major tour by capturing the 2022 Trust Asian Golf Mixed Cup last week.

Ratchanon, who is nicknamed TK, unleashed a 7-under-par 65 to finish 20 under-par for the tournament and beat the runner-up by two shots at Siam Country Club’s Waterside Course in Pattaya. It is called in the press “one of the most captivating and historic finishes to an Asian Tour event, a whole host of players were in contention on the back nine.”

The Trust Asian Golf Mixed Cup is a combined two-tour event: the Asian Tour and the Ladies European Tour. It was the first time that the Asian Tour sponsored a mixed event.

Korean Kim Joo-hyung, the runner-up who is also a professional golfer, said that “TK deserves this. There is no stopping him. But this week has given me a lot of confidence for the season ahead.”

Ratchanon said that he has no intention to turn professional soon because he wants to attend university and focus on his studies first. He was modest in victory.

“I got to be honest, I got pretty lucky, I had hit two or three terrible drives. When I saw Kim eagled 10, I was not surprised since he pulls off that stuff all the time. It put pressure on me but I tried not to look at it too much. I definitely have a lot of people to thank,” Ratchanon added.

He was the second young Thai golfer to make his first mark internationally this month. Two weeks ago, Patty Tavatanakit, just 21-years-old, won the first major tournament on the Ladies Professional Golf Tour at Mission Hills. It was her first triumph on that tour.

Photo courtesy of https://www.asiantour.com/skys-the-limit-for-masterful-ratchanon