American Ban Shotaro, who is of Japanese and Taiwanese descent, shot a final-round, 2-under 70 to claim the victory at the ThreeBond “Banzihua Wing-On Golf Club” Challenger. This week in Tainan, Taiwan, kickstarts TPGA’s nine-leg ThreeBond Challenger Tour for 2023, a developmental circuit next to the main TPGA Tour.
Followed by a first-round 6-under 66, Shotaro earned his maiden win as a pro using a final-round 70 and finishing in the 36-hole event on 8-under 136, which was two shots better than Lee C-H (李昭樺), who registered a 69 on Thursday. The victory is worth NT$150,000.
First-round leader, 15-year-old amateur Hsu P-C’s (許柏丞) final-round 74 pulled him down into equal third finish at 139 with Tsai Y-T (蔡雨達) (70) and Wang S-A (王璽安), who shot a low-round 66 on Day 2.
Shotaro started the day one stroke back of lead and soon took control after converting three birdie chances going out, offset by just one bogey. The 24-foot birdie on the 7th hole was a real momentum shifter as the 29-year-old went on to build a lead as big as three shots at the turn.
Despite his missed birdie chances one after another, Shotaro left with pars on all nine holes going in to celebrate his first career title. “I’m not really satisfied with how I played today. I left empty-handed on the par-5s. But yeah, I tried to stay very positive throughout, and to look at the goals I set for myself before this week, and really just concentrated on my own game. I’m glad that I take an important step forward. And hopefully there are more good results to come.”
Shotaro grew up training for competitive swimming and only until he was eighth grade did he start to develop his future in golf. He played on the China PGA Tour and the Central American circuits during the 2017 to 2019 seasons, during which he earned the runner-up finish twice but never got the taste of winning, before he obtained his TPGA Tour card this year and now became a TPGA Tour winner in just his second official tournament.
“I’m not gonna lie, it’s been a really tough few years with the Covid messing up everything. I was so badly sick when I caught it last February, lost 20 kilos of weight, and not until the end of the year when I finally felt like myself again. Not to mention I picked up an arm injury at that time. It’s been rough,” said Shotaro. “I want to say thank you to the friends who supported me out there today, and my mom for cheering me on.”
15-year-old Hsu P-C (許柏丞) went out of bound twice on his way of making a quadruple-bogey eight on the par-4 fourth hole as his winning hopes dashed. The home course player made three birdies and one bogey on the rest of the day to settle for a final-round 74 and a third-place finish. Still, his 5-under 139 earned him the low-amateur honor.
Tsai C-K (蔡辰鍇), Fang C-W (方傳崴), Lin Y-W (林遠惟), Lai C-Y (賴嘉一), and Lin C-Y (林澄洋) finished in T6 on 4-under 140.
TPGA’s 2023 ThreeBond Challenge Tour kickstarts this week at the Banzihua Wing-On Club for the fifth consecutive season. There will be a total of nine ThreeBond Challengers on the 2023 calendar, serving as the second-tier events to the main TPGA Tour tournaments.
ThreeBond is a manufacturer and one of the international leaders in industrial adhesives, sealants and coatings. The Japan-based company has been collaborating with Taiwanese golf legend and former TPGA chairman T-C Chen (陳志忠), who was the very first player from Taiwan to ever win on the PGA Tour at the 1987 Los Angeles Open, for more than 40 years.
