Hina Arakaki and local juniors.

All 80 of the young participants, age between 8-15, were given a hands-on training session from two up-and-coming players of the tournament which starts on Thursday.

Pajaree or  “Meow” in Thai, 19, a two-time Honda LPGA Thailand invited player, said: “I am very glad for this chance to train junior Thai golfers. Today I demonstrated  how to drive, chip and putt, and remain focused in the game. Everyone paid attention and did their best to follow my instruction. I first dreamed of being a professional golfer when I was a child, so being called on to inspire and push our young talents to pursue their own dreams  really meant a lot to me. I hope what participants will benefit the skills and experience learned today in their future career.”

Japan’s Arakaki who makes a debut in the event this week said: “This is my first time joining the clinic.  I know there are many young people who dream of being a professional golfer at a young age, so I am happy to share my knowledge, techniques, and experience with them. From what I saw today, I’m confident these children will develop their golf skills and improve in the future.”

One of the young trainees Pimpakorn Panyadilok, a 9-year-old junior golfer with 3 years of experience, said: “I am very excited to join the activity. I started playing golf when I was 6 years old, and  have dreamed of traveling around the world to compete in tournaments as a professional player since then. Today I learned a lot of techniques and was encouraged by world professional golfers. What I learned today motivates me to take more lessons and train even harder so I can improve my skills. I want this kind of activity to be held again and again so more young golfers like me can enjoy the same experience.”

Nutthaphat Suket who began playing golf at age 9, said: “I applied for the clinic as soon as I knew about the news. I am so happy today to have made many new friends  with the same interest today. But most of all, it is great to train, get advice and learn from professional golfers. This was a rare opportunity.”

The Honda LPGA Thailand 2019 is due from 21-24 February 2019 at the Siam Country Club Pattaya, Old Course. For more information on the Honda LPGA Thailand 2019 and to purchase tickets, go to http://www.hondalpgathailand.com. VIP tickets are also available for the first year and offer access for hospitality services in the clubhouse at the venue.

The 26-year-old Vincent was amongst the 10 players fighting for nine spots following the 54-hole stroke play at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club on Saturday but a par on the first play-off hole confirmed his place as one of the top-24 players for the six-hole Knockout Match Play.

He went on to defeat Australian Wade Ormsby 3&2 in the first round and beat Japan’s Yuta Ikeda 2 UP in the second before progressing into the Quarter-finals after he triumphed against Ben Campbell of New Zealand on the second Knockout hole.

Vincent eventually lost to Spaniard Adrian Otaegui 3&2 in the semi-finals and was left to battle for third place against Paul Dunne of Ireland in the event tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

Despite nailing a 35-footer on the fifth and winning the sixth to take the duel to the extra hole, Vincent had to concede defeat after a wayward tee shot into the grandstand saw him leave the way clear for Dunne, who made a short putt to claim third.

Vincent, who had his wife Kelsey on his bag, took home a prize purse of US$54,875 and moved up 14 rungs to second place on the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings.

“I had my chances but just didn’t take advantage of them. That’s what happens at match play. I didn’t expect to get this far. Obviously, there was a chance but the fact that I made it into the semi-final was pretty good,” said Vincent, the first Zimbabwean to play on Tour.

“I will keep building from there and get better,” added Vincent, who featured in the Match Play stage for the first time in three appearances at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth.

Vincent’s career has been on a rise since coming through the Qualifying School in 2016. He did not miss a single cut in six tournaments that year and in 2017, he notched three top-three results to finish in 17th place on the Merit rankings to retain his playing rights.

Vincent went on to cap a career-best season yet on the region’s premier Tour in 2018 where he came in fifth on the Habitat for Humanity Standings, thanks to nine top-10 results – the most number of top-10s made by a player without a win last season.

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, who won the season-opener in Singapore last month, continued his reign atop the Habitat for Humanity Standings following his tied-13th place finish, which increased his total earnings to US$197,230.

Jazz, a three-time Asian Tour winner, went the distance with eventual winner Ryan Fox in the second round of the Match Play before getting knocked out by the New Zealander on the third Knockout hole.

“I really felt I had it in my hand already and someone just slapped it away. I felt I got really close and I felt that if I had beaten Ryan Fox, I would have gone on to do better in the next one. But I guess you just have to accept it and move on.

“I’ll be heading to New Zealand next and I’ll work on the things that I fell short in this week. Hopefully I can lift myself up there and perform again,” said the 23-year-old Jazz.

The Asian Tour will head the 100th New Zealand Open next week. The tournament, which offers a prize purse of NZ$1,250,000 (approx. US$850,000), will be held at The Hills and Millbrook Resort from February 28 to March 3.

Ends.

Top players on the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings

Pos  Player  Order of Merit  (US$)

1. Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA) $197,230.76

2. Scott VINCENT (ZWE) $63,595.03

3. Prom MEESAWAT (THA) $40,618.10

4. Doyeob MUN (KOR) $37,150.00

5. Ben CAMPBELL (NZL) $36,327.27

5. Gareth PADDISON (NZL) $36,327.27

7. Panuphol PITTAYARAT (THA) $35,120.68

8. Gunn CHAROENKUL (THA) $26,500.00

9. Yuta IKEDA (JPN) $24,535.51

10. Berry HENSON (USA) $24,199.05

11. Jarin TODD (USA) $19,316.67

12. Yikeun CHANG (KOR) $19,095.67

13. Miguel TABUENA (PHI) $17,457.17

14. Kazuki HIGA (JPN) $14,266.67

14. Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) $14,266.67

16. Justin HARDING (RSA) $14,232.38

17. Steven JEFFRESS (AUS) $12,423.71

17. Andrew MARTIN (AUS) $12,423.71

17. Wade ORMSBY (AUS) $12,423.71

20. Sihwan KIM (USA) $12,404.39

20. Zach MURRAY (AUS) $12,404.39

Opelka outlasted Schnur 6-1, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (9/7) one minute beyond two hours in the first ATP championship match for either competitor.

Opelka, ranked 89th, finished two aces shy of Ivo Karlovic’s ATP best-of-three-set record of 45 from Halle in 2015 for the second consecutive match, having also smashed 43 in beating US top seed John Isner in the semi-finals.

In all, Opelka hit nine aces in the first set and 17 in both the second and third sets, the last of them on the deciding point. He suffered only two double faults and never faced a break point.

Opelka made 74 percent of his first serves, winning 61-of-69 first-serve points and 14-of-24 off his second serve.

The 21-year-old US ball-blaster denied 154th-ranked Schnur, a 23-year-old from Montreal, a fairy-tale finish to the greatest week of his career. The last alternate into qualifying had lost all five tour-level matches he had played prior to this week’s run to finals.

Both players will rise from their career-high rankings of this week after a dramatic title showdown.

Opelka broke Schnur for a 2-0 edge then held at love twice and broke at love for a 5-1 edge on the way to claiming the first set after only 18 minutes on his ninth ace.

Schnur took only nine points in the first set, as many as he would claim in the second-set tie-breaker to force a third.

Both players held serve into the second-set tie-breaker. Opelka served for the match up 7-6 but suffered his second double fault and Schnur took the next two points as well.

Schnur saved three break points in the fourth game before holding as they battled into a tension-packed final tie-breaker, Opelka swatting a second-serve ace to hold at 6-5 with his 40th overall ace of the match.

Opelka opened and closed the last tie-breaker with aces, but the key moment came when Schnur surrendered his second and final double fault on the penultimate point.

Monfils, the runner-up three years ago, held off Wawrinka’s second-set surge to ease through the decider.

“It was an unbelievable week, a pleasure,” said Monfils.

“Stan is a part of this win. We’ve been talking a lot and practising a lot. You’re my brother,” he told his Swiss opponent.

“This has been a good week for Stan and a good week for me. I hope we can have many more battles.”

Wawrinka, the 2015 champion in the Dutch port city who is continuing an 18-month comeback from double knee surgery, was playing in his first final since Roland Garros in June 2017.

“It was great for sure to be in the final,” Wawrinka said. “I’m pleased with the way I played in it and the way I arrived to the final.

“I played four good matches here, I kept my level up all week.”

Three-time major winner Wawrinka said he hopes to build on his run  this week.

“I need to keep doing what I’ve been doing the last few months. I need to play events to gain confidence. Keeping going is the only way to get back my ranking,” said the world number 68.

It was the first championship match in 11 years at Rotterdam to feature two unseeded players.

Monfils, 32, showed no hard evidence of the left wrist injury which has bothered him all week and forced him onto a regime of pain-killers.

“I struggled with the wrist all week,” he said. “I came out running hard in the first game to make him feel I was there.

“But when I hit as hard as I could with the backhand — ‘ohhh’,” he said in reference to the wrist pain he was feeling.

“I’ve been in worse shape, but I’m really exhausted after this week.”

The world number 33 triumphed in one and three-quarter hours with four service breaks against three-time major winner Wawrinka as he claimed his first title since Doha last year.

The Frenchman took the opening set with two breaks of Wawrinka, but the 33-year-old Swiss immediately returned the favour with a 6-1 second set.

In the third, Monfils broke for 2-1, taking control of his opponent’s mighty backhand.

The Frenchman moved to 5-2 and saved a break point a game later as he closed out victory.

The world number 16 American has been the form player of recent months, and has now scored two wins and two other top three finishes in her last five events.

In carding a 17-under-par 271, holding off South Korean challenger Ko Jin-young, Korda joined her father, sister and brother in being crowned an Open champion on Australian soil.

Dad Petr got the ball rolling by winning the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam in 1998, beating Marcelo Rios, and celebrated with his trademark scissor kick.

Her sister Jessica then won the Australian Open golf in 2012, duplicating her father’s celebration, as did brother Sebastian when he took out the Australian Open tennis boys’ title last year.

Not to be outdone, Nelly also nailed the “Korda Kick” after her final round 67.

Just minutes after tapping in a par putt at the 18th hole, she was handed a phone and her elder sister was looking at her through Facetime.

Korda put it in context: “I’m finally a part of the club.

“She was pretty much screaming congratulations, she was so happy for me. I mean this win was really special for my family,” she added.

“I think there’s something in the air here, we love coming Down Under.

“I just got off the phone with my Dad and he said ‘well, congratulations, you’re part of the Korda Slam now’.”

Korda was the overnight leader and held her nerve despite a bogey on the 15th to beat Ko by two and Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling by five.

Thailand’s world number one Ariya Jutanugarn finished 15 adrift.

Korda headed to Adelaide’s Grange Golf Club on the back of her first LPGA victory at the Taiwan Championship last October, before a second place finish at the Tour Championship in Florida.

She started her 2019 campaign in a similar vein, finishing third at the Tournament of Champions last month, also in Florida.

The world number 21 won 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, despite being outclassed in the first set, overcoming an eight-minute medical timeout for back pain in the second set, and losing 18 consecutive points at one stage in the match.

“It’s a big moment for me, getting that victory,” said a jubilant Mertens, 23, afterwards.

“I think this one would be, especially also with my tennis I played, the nicest one, nicest victory.”

Her win, in a little over two hours, was her third victory over a top ten player in Doha this week, and her second over a Grand Slam champion.

Halep is the reigning French Open champion and Angelique Kerber, who she beat in the semi-finals, holds the Wimbledon title.

Qatar is the fifth title of Mertens’ career but notably her first at a Premier-level event.

She said it outshone her achievement in getting to the Australian Open semi-finals in 2018.

Mertens started nervously, lost her opening service game, and the first set in just 32 minutes.

At 2-0 down in the second, it looked like it was going to turn into a routine victory for Halep.

“I couldn’t say I was really nervous,” she added, “but I think my shots went long.

“So, I really had to accelerate a little bit better to keep it in the court.”

Mertens broke back, then called for medical attention and was the stronger player for the remainder of the game.

She could rise as high number 16 in the next rankings because of her victory in Doha.

Coincidentally her ranking of 21 coming into the tournament was exactly the same as last year’s winner in Doha, Petra Kvitova.

– ‘I didn’t have a chance’ –

A clearly fading Halep, who played in the Fed Cup last weekend when she led Romania into the semi-finals for the first time, also called for medical assistance for treatment to a blister on her right foot.

“I was really tired in the third set, I couldn’t have the chance to win this match,” said Halep, who won the Qatar title in 2014.

“I had to be 100% to be able to win such a big match. But she deserved to win, she was stronger, she was fresher. I’m not making a drama.”

Halep added that she “needed rest”, but would definitely play in Dubai next week.

Despite her defeat, the Romanian will head back to number two in the rankings on the back of her performances in Doha.

Switzerland’s 2015 champion needed almost two and a quarter hours to defeat the Japanese star who was playing at the Dutch event for the first time.

Wawrinka will face off for his first title since Geneva in May 2017 when he plays against good friend Gael Monfils in Sunday’s final.

The French showman returned to the final as he overhauled Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Nishikori suffered only his second loss of the season against 11 victories, which included the Brisbane title and a quarter-final run at the Australian Open.

Wawrinka, 33, won the first set from a 4-0 lead, trailed 0-4 as Nishikori levelled in the second before he broke in the final game of the third.

The Swiss world number 68 sent a stinging service return winner down the line to clinch victory, which comes almost a year and a half after he underwent two knee surgeries in the summer of 2017.

“It’s a big relief to reach my first final since my surgery,” Wawrinka said.

“It’s really important to see that I can play a full week of matches. I’m feeling good physically, I’m glad to be in a final again and glad to do it here.”

He added: “When you come back from surgery, you need to be patient with yourself. The toughest thing is to come back at the right level, where you want to be.”

The Swiss won his last meeting with Monfils at Roland Garros two years ago.

Wawrinka ended with eight aces and 35 winners while breaking Nishikori five times.

“Stan was playing well in the first set, but not like amazing,” said Nishikori.

“I made too many mistakes, too many unforced errors, I could have played better. I was missing too much.”

Monfils said he will be heading into Sunday’s final needing painkillers to ease a left wrist injury.

The 32-year-old had also reached the title match in his last Rotterdam appearance in 2016, when he lost to Martin Klizan.

Monfils revealed that he has been suffering all week with a left wrist injury.

“I fell heavily on day one and I’ve felt it every day. I’ve been on painkillers. It’s not so good but I’m working with my physio,” said the world number 33.

“I try not to think of it. I hope the momentum will get me through.”

Victory on Saturday was quick revenge for Monfils, who lost to Medvedev a week ago in the Sofia semi-finals, an event which the Russian won.

Medvedev’s defeat was only his third loss of the season, leaving his record at 14-3.

Spearheaded by Caroline Link and Pornsupa Malapadtee, the youngest member of the team at only 19, Thai Polo relied on their better team work to claim the trophy of the 11th edition staged to raise funds for Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer Foundation.

In the third-placed competition, La Familia-Marengo of Malaysia led by former super model Sonia Couling beat San Eugenio of Switzerland 7-3.

“We created this event not only to help breast cancer victims but also to promote polo among the younger generation of Thai women, “ said Dr.Harald Link, President of B.Grimm Group and President of the Thailand Equestrian Federation (TEF).