Malaysian golf icon Danny Chia will head into next week's Tun Ahmad Sarji Trophy, the opening event of the 2023 Toyota Tour, with his confidence on a high following an impressive runner-up finish in a senior tournament in Thailand.

Chia, who turned 50 last November, closed with a stunning 10-under-par 62 to force a playoff with local stalwart Udon Duangdecha in the first tournament of the 2023 SAT NSDF Thai Senior Tour, played last week at Panorama Golf & Country Club in Khao Yai. The 62 was a career low for Chia and included two eagles and seven birdies, against just one dropped shot.

"It’s a huge confidence booster heading into next week’s Tun Ahmad Sarji Trophy. I shot 10-under, the best score of my career, so definitely happy with it," said Chia, who signed in a 54-hole total of 10-under-par 206 (72-72-62) in what was his first senior tournament.

"They used a lot of front tees but they put the pins in awkward positions to balance that. On the first two days I missed a lot of putts but the last day was a totally different story ... I was solid on the greens and almost all my putts were centre cup. 

"The greens were very tricky and many pins were on slopes. If you miss in the wrong place, you definitely cannot stop the ball. They were running about 10.5 but some of the putts felt like 13 because of the slopes," added the two-time Asian Tour winner.

Chia had finished regulation play with a flourish, making eagle on the par-five 17th after finding the green in two and nailing a close-range birdie on the par-four final hole. He had a stroke of bad luck on the first extra hole when his tee shot wound up in a divot, resulting in a bogey after he failed to find the green. Udon meanwhile made par to seal the win.

The field included Thai legend and 18-time Asian Tour winner Thaworn Wiratchant, who finished T3 on three-under par with compatriot Thammanoon Sriroj and American Simon Yates. The two other Malaysians in the field, R. Nachimuthu and Lam Kong Loong, finished seventh and T16 respectively.

Chia is looking forward to returning to Saujana's Bunga Raya Course, where he finished runner-up to current Malaysian No 1 Gavin Green by just one shot in last year's inaugural Tun Ahmad Sarji Trophy. With Green opting not to defend his title as he is playing in a DP World Tour event in Kenya next week, Chia will certainly start as one of the hot favourites.

"The event brings back a lot of good memories and I can’t wait to get back to the Bunga Raya. I like the layout as a lot of the holes don’t favour the longer hitters, which is good for me now because I’m no longer in that category. I get to hit a lot of 3-woods and hybrids off the tee. It’s a thinking golf course," noted Chia.

The elder statesman of Malaysian golf lauded the formation of the Toyota Tour through the partnership between the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour, UMW Toyota Motor and MST Golf. "It’s great to have corporates like Toyota take interest in the tour. I think this is the first time Toyota is sponsoring a golf event and I heard there will be some changes like playing music at the tees. To me any change is good, it's great to try something new," he said.

Having set many benchmarks for Malaysian golf including being the first multiple winner on the Asian Tour and the first to make the cut in a Major at the 2010 Open at St Andrews, Chia is slowly adjusting to being a senior player.

"In the beginning I felt insecure, wondering if in a way I was getting towards the end of my career. That insecurity made me work very hard on my game and I think it was to the extreme last year.

"I started to lose confidence when the results didn't come and doubted what I was doing. When I failed at first stage senior qualifying in Japan, I was very disappointed and frustrated. I came home and looked at what I was doing the whole year," he shared.

Moving forward, Chia stressed that he will just focus on keeping things simple. "I'll just go out and play and see what happens!"

And you can expect to see the sweet-swinging senior play a lot of Toyota Tour events. "As long as I feel I’m still good enough to compete with the young guns, I’ll still play in the regular events and give it a shot. I’ll play most of the Toyota Tour events and go for some of the Thai senior events.

"I’ll be heading back to Japan for the first stage of senior qualifying in December. Then I’ll find out what the schedule is for the European and US senior tours. If I can manage the schedule, maybe I’ll give it a shot."