South African James Kamte is fired up for his title defence of the Asian Tour International, the season-opener in Asia, but he will likely have to compete with borrowed clubs starting on Thursday.

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Kamte is amongst a strong line-up of stars from 25 different nationalities assembled at the Suwan Golf and Country Club which reflects the cosmopolitan attraction of the established Asian Tour.

Thai hero Thaworn Wiratchant will spearhead the local charge in the US$300 000 event alongside upcoming talent Kiradech Aphibarnrat while other top names include Australian Marcus Both, who has finished third in the last two editions of the Asian Tour International, in-form Singaporean Lam Chih Bing, India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar and Japanese winners Daisuke Maruyama and Azuma Yano.

Kamte enjoyed a memorable 2009 with his maiden Tour victory and he sweetened his year by qualifying for his first Major at the US Open where he was invited by world number one Tiger Woods to play in a practice round. He was also invited by Jack Nicklaus to compete in the Memorial Tournament.

While memories of last year’s two-shot victory in Suwan is still vivid in his mind, the 27-year-old Kamte is keeping his fingers crossed that his golf clubs will show up after it failed to arrive on Tuesday.

“It’s awesome to come back to a place with good memories. It’s not a bad start to the year as you think ‘wow, I’ve won here last year’. You want to do the same thing. You become positive and hopefully I’ll get a good start again. I had a good year-end break, I did a bit of work and you always want to defend your title,” said Kamte.

“However, my clubs are not here. They told me the clubs would be here this morning but they didn’t show up. So I’ve been trying to chase the airport and I phoned the Asian Tour office and asked for some spare clubs. If I have to use them the whole week, I’ll use them. If my clubs arrive, it’ll be a bonus,” added the South African.

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