Jazz finds refuge in TOUR winner’s home during pandemic

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond is itching to get back onto the tee and reignite his PGA TOUR dream.

Fuelled by an unprecedented sporting shutdown which saw him seek refuge in Orlando over the past two months, the 39th-ranked golfer in the world will be amongst the stars returning to action at the Charles Schwab Challenge when the TOUR resumes play June 11.

Janewattananond, 24, is slated to feature in other tournaments including the RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and World Golf Championships-FedEx St Jude Invitational, appearances he hopes will help him secure membership on the PGA TOUR. He can also look forward to starts in three of the four majors in the reimagined schedule.

“These next few events, it’s going to be great,” Janewattananond said in a recent interview. “I won’t really care what I shoot honestly. I just want to play tournament golf again. … I’m lucky we get to play golf again as every tour around the world is closed.”

Janewattananond has been away from his close-knit family since late February after opting to stay in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been living in Orlando, Florida, with former PGA TOUR winner Daniel Chopra and his family.

“I’ve tried to keep the spirit up. It feels like you’re in a tunnel and I’m trying to get to the end of the tunnel. It’s tough when you’re far away from home,” he said.

While he misses his family dearly, Janewattananond has found comfort through his ‘adopted’ family. Janewattananond and his caddie, Camp Pulit, have been staying with the Chopras since March.

“When the shutdown happened, I didn’t want to go back to Thailand as we weren’t sure how long the break would last,” Janewattananond said. “And then, our country shut down and it was too late to get home. We had a hotel room booked for two weeks but (Chopra) made us stay with him. It was good to have some familiar faces around. It felt like family.”

Janewattananond has enjoyed staying with Daniel, his wife Samantha and their two children. Janewattananond says he has found renewed vigor for the game and has so enjoyed Bay Hill that he took up a club membership. If he secures his PGA TOUR card, Janewattananond will not hesitate to consider setting up base near the iconic club.

He’s spent his time with the Chopras playing basketball and wakeboarding. When golf facilities reopened, Janewattananond and Chopra participated in one-day events on local mini-tours to get the adrenaline flowing again.

“I just miss the travelling and going out to play, meeting new people,” Janewattananond said. “One day, we got up at 5 a.m., drove for two hours to the course and teed up. I shot 1 under in the first event and didn’t make my money back and in the second one, I shot 2 under and tied Daniel for third place.”

The 46-year-old Chopra, who is of Indian-Swede parentage, won his first PGA TOUR event at the 2007 Ginn sur Mer Classic and two events later claimed the season-opening 2008 Sentry Tournament of Champions, beating Steve Stricker in a playoff.

“Daniel has a golf net at home and I’ve been grinding,” Janewattananond said. “We’ve played golf almost every day together and Daniel’s a great guy and a great golfer. He loves a side game and when he needs to make a putt, it just comes up for him. I guess that’s why he’s a PGA TOUR winner. Casper, who is 10, is a good golfer too. I wasn’t as good as him when I was his age and he would hit balls all day long. I consider myself a range rat but he’s out-practicing all of us. It kind of gives us a boost for our love towards golf. It’s a good reminder.”

With international travel and requirements differing from one country to another, Janewattananond is looking at extending his visa to remain in the U.S. beyond its current expiration in August. With the U.S. Open slated in September and Masters Tournament in November, he is keeping his options open to staying on in the country for remainder of the year.

“If I go back to Thailand, I don’t know if we’ll have to go through quarantine or if it’ll be easy to return to the U.S. I’m happy here so maybe it’ll be better to stay on. No one expected this to happen in our lifetime. You’re just moving along and then this happens. A lot of people are more united and helping each other out and I think humanity will come out on the better side of this.

“For Daniel and Samantha to open up their home to me and my caddie, they have helped me out so much. You see the nicer part of people and the best of people coming out to help one another.”