Almost a decade ago, Boonchu Ruangkit became the first player from Thailand to win the Order of Merit, and in 2017 one of his compatriots also wrote his way into the history books on the Staysure Tour – enter Thaworn Wiratchant.
A two-time Asian Tour Number One, Wiratchant earned a year’s exemption to the Staysure Tour after turning 50 at the end of 2016, due to his victory at the 2005 Enjoy Jakarta Standard Chartered Indonesia Open.
He became the second Thai winner on the European Tour, after Thongchai Jaidee, but in 2005 he became the first player to win more than $500,000 in a single Asian Tour season.
Wiratchant made his Staysure Tour debut at the Swiss Seniors Open. He opened his over-50s account with a three over par round of 73, but very quickly made amends as his second round at Golf Club Bad Ragaz was an eight under par 62. Eventually finishing eight strokes behind winner Philip Golding, it was very much a case of what could have been for the Thai.
The following week, at the WINSTONgolf Senior Open, he was again left to rue a slow start. He began the final round seven strokes off the lead, but fired a course record of 64, another eight under par round, to finish just one shot behind eventual winner Phillip Price.
The Thai finished in a share of fifth place at the Willow Senior Golf Classic, securing his place in the field for the season-ending MCB Tour Championship at Mauritius – he would go on to make history at Constance Belle Mare Plage.
Sharing the lead ahead of the final day of the 2017 season, Wiratchant would go on to win by a mammoth eight strokes, the widest margin of the year. In doing so, he would also card the lowest ever 54-hole score at a Staysure Tour event.
Earlier that season, Barry Lane carded the lowest ever Staysure Tour round, a 12 under par round of 60, and set a new 54-hole record of 22 under par. However, Wiratchant went one better, an eagle on the last at Constance Belle Mare Plage gave him a 23 under par total, and his first over-50s title.
Wiratchant became the first Thai winner on the Staysure Tour since Ruangkit’s victory at Woburn at the 2011 Travis Perkins Masters, but with compatriot Jaidee turning 50 at the end of 2019, it’s likely that there won’t be such a gap between the next Thai victories on the over-50s circuit.
