In-form Kanaya eyes another summit in Thailand

Fresh off his maiden victory on the Asian Tour last week, Takumi Kanaya will seek to carry the fine momentum into DP World Tour next when he competes at the Thailand Classic starting tomorrow at the Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi.

Kanaya will lead the four-man Japanese challenge in the US$2mil tournament, which makes a welcome return to the DP World Tour schedule following a seven-year hiatus.

The other three Japanese representatives are JGTO prize money king Kazuki Higa, Masahiro Kawamura and Taiga Semikawa.

But all eyes will surely be on the man in form Kanaya, who will be eager to make it two wins on the trot after being crowned the International Series Oman champion and show that he too can conquer the DP World Tour.

Kanaya, who holds a limited status on the European circuit, qualified for this week’s tournament thanks to a sponsor’s invitation.

He failed in his bid to secure his full card through the DP World Tour Qualifying School in November last year.

Kanaya came in 38^th place, earning him a Category 20 membership (players who made the 72-hole cut but finished outside top-25 and ties).

The conditional membership was good enough to secure him his first two starts of the 2023 season, which he took advantage of to finish tied 24^th at the Australian Open and tied-seventh at the Australian PGA Championship.

After soaring from 169^th to 119^th in the world rankings, Kanaya will be out to mount a serious challenge on the title.

As for Higa, he’s set for a second DP World Tour appearance after marking his debut at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship in UAE with a tied-36^th finish.

He turned in a solid performance in Oman too by finishing tied-13^th.

Higa has a Category 16 membership by virtue of being the JGTO Order of Merit champion. It is part of the privilege as a result of the alliance between the JGTO and DP World Tour.