Meet the Jazz man

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The biggest surprise on the PGA Championship leaderboard is not how many Brooks Koepka leads by… it is that one of his closest chasers is Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond. At just 23, he is already a three-time Asian Tour winner and also has a win on the Japan Tour. If he keeps up his form at Bethpage Black, we could be seeing a lot more of him – including in the Presidents Cup this December at Royal Melbourne. Should he finish second alone, he could jump to as high as second on the International Team standings for Ernie Els team. He is currently 16th on the list. Here’s what you need to know about the Thai star. His first name is actually Atiwit. His father was a huge fan of jazz music and gave his son the nickname Jazz. His surname is pronounced “JANNA’-watta-NON’-nond.  He’s a pocket rocket at just 150 pounds and 5-feet, nine-inches tall. He was a member of PGA TOUR Series-China in 2015 as a 19-year old (finished 22nd at Q-School) and went on to play one event, tying for sixth in Zhengzhou.  This is his fourth PGA TOUR start. He missed the cut at the 2017 Charles Schwab Challenge, was T39 at the 2018 CIMB Classic and missed the cut at the 2018 Open Championship. In 2019 he has won the Singapore Open, and has five other top five finishes around the world at the Boonchu Ruangkit Championship (5th), the New Zealand Open (4th), The Maybank Championship Malaysia (3rd), the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open (T5) and the Singa Chiang Mai Open (T4). He is currently ranked 72nd on the Official World Golf Ranking.  Became the youngest golfer to make the cut on the Asian Tour. Turned pro at 14 in 2010. Won his first Asian Tour event at the 2017 Bangladesh Open. Spent two weeks as a monk in Thailand one off-season (2016) and claims it was the key to becoming a winner. He is using a local caddie this week at Bethpage – Jack Miller. Miller is 63 and worked at Bethpage Black since 2009, but is a full-time Frozen Food Manager for King Kullen Grocery Company. He had never been to New York before.

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