Chase Wright has found a professional golf home for the 2013 season.
The Delta High School graduate last week earned playing privileges on the Asian Tour after advancing through its qualifying series in Hua Hin, Thailand.
Wright was one of an all-time high of 761 golfers who began the quest to earn a spot on the Asian Tour this year. Only the top 40 players after two steps of qualifying won full exemption to the tour.
The first stage was broken into two groups of about 300 players each, with 156 other players already being exempt for the final stage. The top 15 percent of players from First Stage A and First Stage B advanced to the final stage.
Wright, who is in Asia and was unavailable for comment, was in the top 15 percent of his group in the first stage to advance to the final stage. Once there, he played well enough to earn his card for the season.
He began the 72-hole final stage round by shooting 67 and 68 in the first two rounds. Wright had 72 and 73 in the final two rounds to finish at 5-under 280 and tie for 21st place. The winning score was 13-under 272 by Chan Kim, a product of Arizona State University.
Australia’s Jake Higginbottom, whose amateur record rivals that of PGA Tour players Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley, Robert Allenby and Jason Day, qualified for the Asian Tour by shooting 4-under 281, one stroke below Wright.
The Asian Tour season schedule is still being finalized for 2013. Last year’s tour included 27 events. The first tournament will be Feb. 21-24 at the Zaykabar Myanmar Open in Myanmar.
Among the notable events on the Asian Tour last season were the Maybank Malaysian Open, won by Louis Oosthuizen, and the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters, won by Lee Westwood.
“I’ve always enjoyed playing in Asia; I’ve been going there for 18 years now,” Westwood said during last year’s Indonesian Masters. “It’s one of the best places to play in the world. The countries are very different. Each of them have something to look forward to.”
Players earn Official World Golf Ranking points in events on the Asian Tour.
