Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee secures PGA Tour Champions card for 2022 season with playoff win at TPC Tampa Bay
- Closing round 67 enough for Thai legend to finish second at final stage of qualifying tournament
- American Rob Labritz achieves 15-year dream of making it onto over-50s tour with bogey-free final round
Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee regained his PGA Tour Champions card by finishing tied second in the final stage of the qualifying tournament at TPC Tampa Bay on Friday.
Thongchai closed with a final round 4-under par 67 to finish three shots behind medallist Rob Labritz, whose bogey-free 64 took him to 17-under for the four rounds.
David Branshaw carded a 68 to finish alongside Thongchai, while Roger Rowland and Tom Gillis are also exempt into open, full-field events for the 2022 season after finishing fourth and fifth.
Thongchai and Branshaw shared runner-up honours at 14-under, before the Thai birdied the first playoff hole to earn the No. 2 spot.
“I performed well this week,” Thongchai said. “I’m putting very well. Everything is better than it was earlier this year. Hopefully I can keep it going.”
Two years ago, Thongchai earned his playing rights on the Champions Tour through Q-School, but the coronavirus pandemic dashed his hopes of performing well in the over-50 circuit, as he missed a large portion of the 2020-21 season because of travel restrictions that kept him in Thailand. He did finish strongly at the end of the recent season with two successive top-10 finishes.
“It feels great. I played a solid round, was solid all week and I’ve now got back my tour card. Hopefully next year will be a lot better than this year. Covid affected everything and shut things down. It was very difficult for everyone.