By Olle Nordberg, Contributing Editor – Asian Tour
Thailand’s teenager Chanoknan Angurasaranee, or “April” as she’s also known, is surely a name to watch out for in the future after her performance in last week’s Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup at Siam Country Club’s Waterside Course, where she finished as the leading female player.
Playing in the penultimate group on Sunday with eventual winner Ratchanon “TK” Chantananuwat, she certainly held her own by shooting a three-under-par 69 to end in a tie for sixth place on 15 under par.
Just shy of her 18th birthday later this month, she is already in her third year as a professional.
“On the first couple holes I was very excited and very tense, I got very tense on the first four holes. But when I birdied the fourth, I think it kind of freed me up a lot and I just tried to play my own game and just stay in my own zone. I’ve played with TK before and he’s a good, good kid. He makes sure that everyone in his group stays calm.”
Finishing tied-sixth against a very strong field of Asian Tour and Ladies European Tour players should do wonders for April’s confidence for the future, as she’s getting ready to embark on a season on the Epson Tour, the LPGA’s secondary tour. A top-10 finish on that Order of Merit would earn the young Thai a much sought-after LPGA card for the following season.
“I’m very impressed by myself [laughing]. I didn’t think that I was going to play this well. Next week I’m leaving to go to the states for the Epson Tour. These past four months, I’ve been trying to get my game into shape and trying to play under pressure. And this tournament really, really helps me to get to that mindset and in the zone like I need to be. I’m looking to play maybe 17 tournaments on the Epson Tour this year, starting on the 29th of April in Kansas and ending in October, so I’m trying to be in that top-10 to get my LPGA Tour card.”
Although the soon to be 18-year-old has been playing on the Trust Golf Mixed Tour in Thailand, the strength of the competition from the top Asian Tour players last week would have been quite a step up.
She said: “It’s a whole other level, you know. The way they play, their short games and their putting was over the top. I just enjoyed every second of playing with the men. You get to see just really, really nice, like really cool shots. I’m just trying to absorb everything. It was great, just really good to play in the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup.”
Having turned professional at a young age after taking up golf at age 11, the Thai would have been quite used to being the youngest in the group at tournaments; this was not the case on Sunday, as Ratchanon is almost three years her junior.
“It felt weird [laughing]. But it was very, very fun to watch TK play, he’s just an amazing golfer. It was incredible how he handled the pressure to win. On the first hole, I think he told the camera man: ‘I’ll definitely hold this trophy, just wait for me for five hours’. And I was like, this kid’s got that mentality, you know? And he really played great golf, just great golf.”
In addition to the Trust Golf Mixed Tour, Chanoknan has also been playing on the Thailand LPGA Tour and is happy with her progression so far.
She added: “I’ve been playing really well. Just sort of increasingly better, improving every tournament and just like this week, finishing tied sixth. I started from like mid 20s and just climbing up the leaderboard and finding myself in the top-10, top-five nowadays.”
