LIV Golf star Lucas Herbert will have the opportunity to revisit the scene of one of his early successes after confirming he will participate in next week’s Singapore Open presented by The Business Times.
The Australian will be one of the headline acts that includes fellow LIV Golf players Josele Ballester and Luis Masaveu from Spain, Americans Peter Uihlein, Caleb Surratt, and Michael La Sasso, plus New Zealand’s Danny Lee.
Filipino Miguel Tabuena and Bjorn Hellgren from Sweden, Asian Tour regulars both playing on the League as ‘Wild Cards’, will also compete in the US$2million event which will be played on The Serapong at Sentosa Golf Club, 23-26 April.
Herbert, who plays for the all-Australian Ripper GC team on the League, has played in Singapore’s National Open once before back in 2018 when he tied for eighth.
It was a strong performance early in his career that came with the added bonus of qualifying for his first Open Championship – as like this year the Singapore Open was part of the Open Qualifying Series. He went on to make the cut at Carnoustie Golf Links, in what was only his second appearance in a Major.
The 30-year-old has already qualified for this year’s Open by virtue of finishing second in the New Zealand Open in February but will no doubt be focused on following up his victory at last year’s International Series Japan in Singapore. His win in Japan was his first success on the Asian Tour, and The International Series.
He will face one of the strongest fields of the year on the Asian Tour next week. His compatriot Travis Smyth, who claimed the International Series Japan at the start of the month to take the lead on the Asian Tour Order of Merit (OOM) and The International Series Rankings, is back in action as well as reigning Merit champion Kazuki Higa from Japan.
Former OOM winners John Catlin, Andy Ogletree, and Sihwan Kim from the United States have also entered as well as Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond. Jazz won the 2019 Singapore Open enroute to finishing the year as the number one ranked player
Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana who triumphed at the Singapore Open in 2022 when it was last played at Sentosa Golf Club will also tee-off next week.
Nine other winners from last year on the Asian Tour will add further depth to what will be the 57th staging of the tournament: Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai, Rattanon Wannasrichan, Poosit Supupramai and Ekpharit Wu, Dominic Foos from Germany, Australian Wade Ormsby, Korea’s Doyeob Mun, American Ollie Schniederjans, and Julien Sale from France.
Hong Kong number one Taichi Kho and Korean Jeunghun Wang, who lost in a play-off last year, will also compete along with twelve Singaporeans led by Nicklaus Chiam and James Leow – both winners on the Asian Development Tour recently – reinforcing The International Series’ commitment to provide opportunities for local talent to compete at the highest level.
The leading two players not otherwise exempt will secure places in The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale in July.
The Singapore Open presented by The Business Times is the fourth leg on this year’s Asian Tour and the second stop on The International Series – the upper-tier level of events on the Tour the provide a pathway to the LIV Golf League via The International Series Rankings.
