Bangkok, Thailand: Jet-setting Bunyaporn Zeng continued her rich vein of form to claim top honours in the Faldo Series Thailand Championship.
Recently returned from a successful stint in the United States, the talented 17-year-old proved too strong for her rivals at Panorama Golf and Country Club.
With a 36-hole total of one-under-par 143, not only did Bunyaporn retain her title as the Girls’ Under-21 winner but she also had the distinction of capturing the overall title, ending two shots ahead of second-placed Suttinan Sinsuntites, who topped the Boys’ Under-16 Division.
As such Bunyaporn has earned herself a trip to the ninth Faldo Series Asia Grand Final, an R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking event to be hosted by Sir Nick Faldo at Mission Hills Shenzhen next March.
Accompanying her to China will be four other age group winners from Panorama – Natthasit Kiatthaweeanan [Boys’ Under-21], Pathompon Fuengsawat [Boys’ Under-18], Suttinan [Boys’ Under-16] and Jiratporn Pongtanachalitkul [Girls’ Under-16].
Completing the Thai contingent at Mission Hills will be Putt Sridama, last year’s Faldo Series Thailand champion. This time he had to settle for third place in the Boys’ Under-16 Division although he was already guaranteed a spot in the Grand Final having won the Faldo Series Cambodia Championship in July.
For Bunyaporn, the victory continued an excellent sequence of results that included a triumph in October’s International Junior Golf Academy [IJGA] tournament at Disney Resort and a second-place finish in last month’s IJGA Thanksgiving Day Classic at TPC Sawgrass.
It also given her an opportunity to improve on her performance in the 2013-2014 Faldo Series Asia Grand Final when she ended 15th in the Girls’ Under-16 Division.
Six-time Major champion Sir Nick, Britain’s most successful golfer, said: “I look forward to welcoming Bunyaporn back to Mission Hills in 2015 and to witnessing at first hand the progress she has made as a golfer over the past 12 months.”
Supported by The R&A, ISPS and Mission Hills and endorsed by the Asian Tour and the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, the 2014-15 Faldo Series Asia campaign stretches over 11 months and is made up of a minimum of 20 championships.