Thailand’s Boonchu Ruangkit will aim to become the second successive Asian winner of the Fubon Senior Open when he tees it up at the penultimate tournament of the European Senior Tour season.
The 2010 John Jacobs Trophy Champion will view the second edition of the event, which once again takes place at Miramar Golf & Country Club in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei - from November 9-11 - as the perfect opportunity to claim his first win of the Senior Tour season and add to his haul of five victories.
Ruangkit has not quite performed as well this season as he has in previous years, but has form at Miramar, having finished tied sixth in the inaugural event last year.
The first edition of the tournament was a huge success, with local favourite Chien Soon Lu sealing a superb home victory when he finished five shots clear of American amateur Lorens Chan.
This year, the stars of the Senior Tour – including Andrew Oldcorn, Tim Thelen and Gary Wolstenholme - will have even more to play for as they battle it out for an increased prize fund of $450,000.
The 96-strong field will again comprise 54 Senior Tour Members and 42 players from the Senior PGA of Taiwan, which is co-sanctioning the event, and there will again be a cut of the top 60 and ties after the second of three rounds.
Paul Wesselingh is another man who will journey to Asia in search of glory as he attempts to build on a season which yielded a maiden victory at the ISPS Handa PGA Seniors Championship and is likely to bring him the Rookie of the Year award.
Another rookie, 1995 Ryder Cup hero Philip Walton, will be hoping to improve on his best finish of his first season on the Senior Tour, tied 22nd, which came at his debut in the Mallorca Senior Open.
Frenchman Jean Pierre Sallat, meanwhile, was the best of the Europeans at last year’s Fubon Senior Open and he will return after securing his highest finish of the season in the most recent event on the schedule, the French Riviera Masters, where he finished eighth.
