Jazz ready to rock the Solaire Open

Manila, March 11: Young Thai talent Jazz Janewattananond believes he can rise above the occasion at the US$300,000 Solaire Open, which starts on Thursday, after agonisingly missing out on qualifying for The Open Championship last week.

Losing in a four-way play-off to Yoshinobu Tsukada of Japan in the Open Qualifying Series – Thailand was a bitter pill to swallow for Jazz but he hopes to translate that disappointment into a first Asian Tour victory this week.

“I had one hand on The Open Championship ticket so I was really down on myself but I kept telling myself to take it as an experience. It was a hard lesson for me but it is a good thing that it happened early in my career,” said Jazz, who is sponsored by Black Mountain.

“My game is getting better. My confidence is quite high at the moment so I’m looking forward to the week. This is my first full year on the Asian Tour and I want to play in as many events as I can and hopefully win one event,” he added.

Berry Henson of the United States and Rikard Karlberg of Sweden will also be in the elite field this week.