After more than 20 hours of flight between Sunday and Monday from Thailand to Dallas, where he lives, Jérémy Gandon can finally breathe. In possession of a right to play on the Asian Tour, the 26-year-old Valentinois is preparing for a completely crazy year 2023. He also intends to play as often as possible on the Korn Ferry Tour. Explanations.
Interview by Nathan CARDET
After Stage I and then the final of the Maps played between January 11 and 22 in Thailand, here you are with a right to play on the Asian Tour in 2023. Mission accomplished?
Yes ! I am very happy ! I will now try to organize my year 2023 between the Korn Ferry Tour and the Asian Tour… For the moment, I must above all reflect, settle down and carefully analyze the different calendars to then see what my season will look like.
What motivated you to try your luck on the Asian circuit?
With only guaranteed full green fees on the PGA Tour LatinoAmerica, I quickly signed up for the Asian Tour Cards. I wanted to open as many doors as possible, as many opportunities as possible. Especially since it didn’t go well for me at the final of the Korn Ferry Tour Maps (November 4-7 in Savannah). All this accelerated my desire to try my luck in Asia. The main idea is to chain tournaments and start making a decent living…
It might be physical. Go for two or three weeks in Asia then come back for a week in Dallas. It will be necessary to recover from the fatigue that this will cause
Precisely, how will your year on the Asian Tour be articulated?
It’s a good question. I still haven’t received any email from the organization. We certainly had a meeting the day before the last round of the Cards final. But it is still unclear. I have to take care of that this week. When I go to the Asian Tour website, I don’t see the category dedicated to players who have passed the accession cards. I know that I could not return for the first tournament of the season, in Saudi Arabia (February 2-5). For Oman (February 9-12) and Qatar (February 16-19), it seems to be just as complicated. I think I will have better luck with this series of six-seven tournaments from the beginning of March. If I can play Thailand (9-12 March), India (16-19 March), skip Hong Kong (23-26 March) and then play Thailand twice again (30 March-9 April) and Vietnam (April 13-16), it wouldn’t be bad. Nothing is sure yet though…
This will require you to make many long trips between Dallas and the Asian continent…
My base camp will remain Texas, but indeed, it may be physical. I’ll try to handle this as best I can. Go for two or three weeks in Asia then come back for a week in Dallas. It will be necessary to recover from the fatigue that this will cause.
There is also the idea of being able to play on the Korn Ferry Tour. Can you explain to us?
I will indeed try to take part in the Monday Qualifier, when I don’t have a tournament (of the Asian Tour) in front of me. I’m going to give myself a chance and qualify for the four tournaments that will come after the stage in Colombia (February 9-12). A qualification and a good result in stride in a Korn Ferry tournament could allow me, via the re-ranking, to continue on this same Korn Ferry Tour. And then with my conditional category on the Korn Ferry, I also have the possibility of entering all the Monday Qualifiers of the PGA Tour. So on February 27, I will play the one counting for the Puerto Rico Open (alternate tournament of the PGA Tour scheduled for March 2 to 5).
Photo : Valerio Pennicino / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / Getty Images via AFP
