Hua Hin, Thailand, December 25: Indian teenager Aadil Bedi is ready to make an early impact in his professional career as he prepares to earn his Tour card at the Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage which starts on Wednesday.

At 17, Bedi is the youngest player to be teeing up at the Lakeview Resort and Golf Club where he will be among the 242 players vying to finish inside the top-35 and ties in the five-round final stage.

The Indian, who turned professional in September, believes his youth will put him in good stead for life on the Asian Tour as he starts to make his transition from the amateur ranks to professional.

Bedi hopes to signal his arrival on the big stage with a performance he can be proud and pass this week’s gruelling test with flying colours.

Thailand’s Kosuke Hamamoto also harbours hopes of making the grade and join the growing legion of Thai greats.

Born to a Japanese father and Thai mother, Kosuke finished tied-11th at Queen’s Cup hosted by Jaidee Foundation earlier this month and believes that result has given him the much-needed confidence to excel this week.

Hamza Amin of Pakistan

Pakistan’s Hamza Amin, who came agonisingly close to regaining his Tour card in his last two occasions at Qualifying School, is determined to make amends and end his year on a high note by regaining his Tour card on Sunday.

Hamza first earned his Tour card through Qualifying School in 2014 but subsequently lost it when he ended that year in 165th place on the Order of Merit.

Did you know?

• Aadil Bedi started practising and learning the initial strokes of golf when he was just four years old.
• Throughout his 13-year amateur career, Bedi has won 171 Medals and trophies. He has also represented India in all the Elite and Major Amateur matches of the world including Asian games, British Amateur, Australian Masters of Amateur, Singapore Amateur and Eisenhower Cup, Ireland.
• Bedi represented India as an amateur at the 2018 Asian Games. He led the field for the first three days but eventually missed out on a podium finish on the final day, finishing in 13th place.
• He got an invitation to play at the Asian Development Tour (ADT) season-ender last month where he finished tied-12th at the PGM Maybank ADT Championship.
• Bedi’s best result as a professional came at the Bengaluru Open on the PGTI where he finished third a fortnight ago.
• Kosuke Hamamoto started playing golf at the age of eight.
• He is a former Thai Amateur star, South East Asia (SEA) Games gold medallist and was part of the first Thai team to win the Nomura Cup in Malaysia in 2017.
• Hamza Amin earned his first Asian Tour card in 2014 after making the mark at the Qualifying School. However, he failed to retain his playing status that year.
• He was placed tied-sixth at the PGM MNRB Championship, an event on the Asian Development Tour in September.

Players’ Quotes

Aadil Bedi (Ind)

It’s very exciting times for me. I’ve recently turned professional and things are moving along very fast for me. A lot of people told me before I turned pro that I’ll take some time before I’ll settle down in my professional ranks as the golf is different. But I don’t feel that way because at the end of the day, it’s golf and you just have to put the ball into the hole. It’s not about the money too as I’ve been playing since I was 14 and it’s all about my love for the game. I’m now feeling very comfortable playing with the pros and I’m looking forward to earning my card this week. I’ve been playing a lot of golf with Shubhankar (Sharma) and Viraj (Madappa). I’ve played junior and amateur golf with them and I’ve seen them grow into such great athletes. I’ve learnt a lot from them and they have been giving me lots of advice on how I can play well on the Asian Tour. I played the Take Solutions as an amateur and I got an insight into how wonderful the Asian Tour is and obviously, I would love to get my Tour card this week.

Kosuke Hamamoto (Tha)

I’m actually feeling quite nervous, to be honest as I’ve been thinking about this event for a long time now. I really want to get my card this week so that I can get some playing rights on the Asian Tour. My result at Queen’s Cup definitely gave me lots of confidence and it sort of gave me a reminder that I can play against the Asian Tour pros. There are so many good Thai players on the Asian Tour and hopefully I can follow their footsteps.

Hamza Amin (Pak)

I’m pretty excited about this week. There have been a few heartbreaks for me in the past and I’m really looking forward to playing and getting out there tomorrow. I remember being in second place with nine holes left to play but eventually missed the cut by one shot. And I remember the first time I was at Q school, I was right up there on the leaderboard but didn’t manage to get the card. So the emotions are always there and I guess I just have to go and grind it out again. I hope to inspire more people from my country to take up the sport and come out here to play in Asia.