Asian Tour stars have World Cup, World Rankings on their minds

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DONGGUAN, China -- Asian Tour standouts Lin Wen-tang and Prayad Marksaeng are on a mission this week to bring honour to Chinese Taipei and Thailand, respectively, at the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup but their minds are also set on breaking into the top-50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

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Prayad Marksaeng is 54th in the world and looking to secure a spot in next year's Masters.

Victories over the weekend have propelled Lin and Prayad to 51st and 54th place respectively in the world rankings and, with the year coming to a close, they are determined to achieve their goal, which will earn them a prized ticket to next year's Masters Tournament in the U.S.

Lin, who won a memorable play-off at the UBS Hong Kong Open, has added next month's Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open onto his schedule before he heads to the season-ending Volvo Masters of Asia in Bangkok.

Smooth-swinging Prayad, winner at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament, will compete in Japan's final event of the year next week, followed by Cambodia before defending his Volvo title at Thai Country Club.

While utmost on their minds this week is to steer Thailand and Chinese Taipei to a strong showing at the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup at Mission Hills Golf Club, they can't help but think that they are so close to earning a trip to Augusta National for the year's first major in April.

"I would like to get into the top-50 and get my way back to the Masters on merit," said Prayad, who was extended a special invitation to compete in this year's Masters but was forced to withdraw midway through his second round with an injury.

"I've got several more events to play this year and hopefully I can do it. But I want to play well in this week's World Cup. We're on form and hopefully we can pull something off," added the Thai, who will partner with Thongchai Jaidee at Mission Hills.

Lin did not realise he had moved so high up the world rankings following his second Asian Tour victory of the season in Hong Kong, which was also sanctioned by the European Tour.

"I've entered for Cambodia now and I'll also play in our last event in Thailand. So that's two chances for me to try to get into the top-50. It'll be really nice to get into the Masters as it's been a long time since a Chinese Taipei had played at Augusta National," said Lin, who is second on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit.

"However, I'm looking forward to this week as well. It's my first ever appearance in the World Cup and I'm still feeling good after Hong Kong. I've got a slight problem with my shoulder but it's not bad. I've been playing a lot of golf over the past two months and it's wearing me down a little bit.

"The Olazabal course is truly challenging. With the changes in elevation, the wind changes direction all the time and it makes it really tough. But the conditions are really good on the golf course. It's a good test as it's playing fairly long," added Lin, who will partner with Lu Wen-the this week.