John Catlin was the star of the show for a large part of the 2024 season on The International Series, and the American is making a late charge at the Moutai Singapore Open to try and get in the reckoning with so much at stake in the current campaign.
Last week it was announced that two players will qualify for LIV Golf places from the rankings this season, while another two golden tickets will be up for grabs at the LIV Golf Promotions event in January, where the top 40 of the table are likely to earn spots in the field.
Currently sitting in 79th spot in the rankings with 25.39 points after a hit-and-miss season, the six-time Asian Tour champion is in danger of missing out on the opportunity to compete for a place on the League next season through the LIV Golf Promotions event.
However, a six-under second round of 66 took last year’s Asian Tour Order of Merit champion up to T2 on the leaderboard, just two behind leader Soomin Lee (-12) with two rounds still to play.
With vital rankings points on play this week – 180 alone to the tournament winner and 110 to the runner-up - Catlin could still make a charge up the rankings with a strong finish. He could theoretically get in the mix for a place in the Promotions event and also the season finale in Saudi, where a reduced, elite field will compete for the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers.
Following the round that took him to 10 under at the halfway stage, Catlin declared himself satisfied with his efforts, saying: “Pretty solid. I am definitely playing better, you know, the misses are better.
“I did not get as much out of my game as I would have liked, but yeah, I felt like my misses are very playable. And, you know, I kept that going this week, and I got only two bogeys for 36 holes, so yeah, it is nice to see the hard work paying off.”
“I felt like my good rounds have been good, but my bad ones have been costing me. And, you know, last week in Hong Kong, it was the same, I felt like my misses were very playable.
“I drained a long one for eagle on four, it’s always nice, but it's just a solid bogey free round of golf, it's nice to play some good golf.”
Catlin hit the headlines last season with a superb play-off victory at International Series Macau presented by Wynn and continued that great form on the set of elevated Asian Tour events with two narrow play-off defeats at International Series Morocco and the Black Mountain Championship.
Thanks to his strong performances, he made a number of appearances in the LIV Golf League as an alternate throughout the season.
Catlin also won the PIF Saudi Open, the next tournament after the Macau victory, and emerged as Order of Merit champion at the end of the season. He fell agonisingly short of a LIV Golf spot in the Rankings race after ultimately finishing fourth behind the LIV Golf duo of Joaquin Niemann and Peter Uihlein, and Ben Campbell, the New Zealander who pipped him in Morocco.
For Catlin, and the rest of the field who have made the cut, there is still plenty to play for.
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of a set of elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings Winner & Runner-Up promotion to the LIV Golf League.
