Australian Jack Thompson graduated with first class honours at the Asian Tour Qualifying School after winning the Final Stage by two shots from countryman John Lyras and China’s Bai Zhengkai.

Thompson, a professional for just two years, marked himself down as one to keep an eye out for as he closed with a five-under-par 66 yesterday for a five-round total of 22-under-par at Lake View Resort and Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand. Bai returned a 65 while Lyras, who started the finla round sharing the lead with Thompson, shot a 68 

American Michael Maguire (65) and Ye Wocheng (69) from China shared fourth, four back from the winner.

A total of 35 players secured right of passage onto the Asian Tour this year, which promises to be the most lucrative in its history.

Nine players tied on eight under competed in a sudden-death play-off for the last two cards, which eventually went to Thomas Power Horan from Australia and England’s Ben Jones after they both birdied the first.

The players who unfortunately missed out in the play-off where Chinese-Taipei’s Ho Yu-cheng, American Matthew Negri, Jakraphan Premsirigorn from Thailand, England’s Jack Harrison, Korean Jonghark Kim, Japan’s Ren Yonezawa, and Justin De Los Santos from the Philippines.

In a first at the Final Stage of the Asian Tour Qualifying School, two Hong Kong players, Matthew Cheung and Taichi Kho made it through.

Remarkably, 24-year-old Thompson made it into this week’s event by claiming the final qualifying berth at the First Stage Qualifying Section C tournament at Blue Canyon Country Club in Phuket, Thailand, at the start of the month. And prior to that he had not been able to practice for three weeks because of a wrist injury.

“This is great, I guess it hasn’t really sunk in yet. It has been a long week, I have been here for a fair few days now, it’s a relief and it’s just nice to win. There is always concern coming into an event if you can do it or not," said Thompson.

“I hadn’t really had the best prep coming in. I had hurt my wrist playing a shot in the Vic PGA last year so I could only hit a bucket of balls in three weeks. It slowly got better and better. Swinging the first qualifier I had no idea, then the next round I worked it out and it carried on from there. I am just super stoked.”

Thompson’s promise first revealed itself when he won the Gippsland Super 6 Match Play in just his fifth start on the PGA Tour of Australasia in 2021 and today’s success suggests more great things are to come from the young Australian.

“I have tried a few Q Schools before and missed out so it’s really nice to have somewhere to play overseas now. I had a great group of Aussie guys here this week and that really helped,” noted the Australian.

Of the seven Malaysians who started, only Galven Green made it to the fifth and final round, finishing 64th on four-under-par after rounds of 69, 71, 68, 72 and 71. Amir Nazrin (72-69-72-69), Khor Kheng Hwai (68-74-71-71), Ervin Chang (70-74-72-71) and Daeng Abdul Rahman (70-70-73-74) missed the 72-hole cut, while Danny Chia (71-78) and Lam Kong Loon (75-77) failed to progress to the third round. 

Results (Top 35 who receive Asian Tour cards for 2023)
333 - Jack Thompson (AUS) 68-70-65-64-66.
335 - John Lyras (AUS) 65-69-67-66-68, Zhengkai Bai (CHN) 70-69-65-66-65.
337 - Michael Maguire (USA) 66-66-70-70-65, Wocheng Ye (CHN) 64-65-67-72-69.
339 - Sangpil Yoon (KOR) 72-71-65-67-64, Mingyu Cho (KOR) 68-69-62-71-69.
341 - Hanmil Jung (KOR) 68-66-68-72-67.
342 - Nick Paez (USA) 70-74-67-66-65, Meenwhee Kim (KOR) 69-70-69-69-65, Wang Wei-hsuan (TPE) 63-77-67-68-67, Alex Ching (USA) 68-73-67-67-67.
343 - David Hague (ENG) 67-72-73-66-65, Nick Voke (NZL) 66-73-67-73-64, Jaewoong Eom (KOR) 73-69-69-65-67, Douglas Klein (AUS) 72-65-68-69-69, Ryuichi Oiwa (JPN) 71-69-67-66-70, Gunn Charoenkul (THA) 69-67-69-66-72.
344 - Matthew Cheung (HKG) 73-67-72-68-64, Dominic Foos (GER) 70-64-71-71-68, Shunya Takeyasu (JPN) 73-67-68-68-68.
345 - Mj Viljoen (RSA) 65-70-72-70-68, Matt Sharpstene (USA) 68-71-69-72-65, Jeremy Gandon (FRA) 70-68-67-75-65, Taichi Kho (am, HKG) 65-72-69-72-67.
346 - Jack Murdoch (AUS) 71-70-69-69-67, David Drysdale (SCO) 69-69-68-73-67, Khalin Joshi (IND) 72-70-71-66-67, Seungtaek Lee (KOR) 70-67-70-71-68, Runchanapong Youprayong (am, THA) 65-72-68-72-69, Yongjun Bae (KOR) 69-69-67-75-66, Davis Love IV (USA) 70-70-62-72-72, Kartik Sharma (IND) 69-69-68-66-74.
347 - Thomas Power Horan (AUS) 70-73-70-67-67, Ben Jones (ENG) 68-67-67-72-73,