Australian rising star Andrew Dodt will spearhead a strong international line-up to compete in the Air Bagan Myanmar Open next month. Dodt, who currently leads the Asian Tour's Order of Merit after winning the Avantha Masters in India, will be aiming to widen his lead at the top of the rankings in the US$300,000 event which is making a welcome return onto the Schedule after a four-year hiatus. The popular tournament sanctioned by the Asian Tour with the Myanmar Professional Golf Association (MPGA) and Myanmar Golf Association (MGA) will be played at the Pun Hlaing Golf Club from April 8 to 11, 2010.

He will be joined by a strong cast which includes compatriot Gavin Flint, winner of the Myanmar Masters which was the first Asian Development Tour event in January, big-hitting Scott Hend, Singapore's Lam Chih Bing and Japan Tour winners Hideto Tanihara, Azuma Yano and Tetsuji Hiratsuka.

In 200 days precisely, The Ryder Cup at The Celtic Manor Resort, City of Newport, Wales, will tee off and The Twenty Ten Course is shaping up to be in pristine condition to host the biennial contest between Europe and the United States.

Jim McKenzie, Director of Golf Courses and Estates Management at The Celtic Manor Resort, has worked tirelessly with his greenkeeping team over the past few months to ensure the 24 golfers who tee up from October 1-3 will have the best playing conditions available to showcase their talents.

"The Twenty Ten Course is shaping up nicely for both The Celtic Manor Wales Open in June and The Ryder Cup in October, despite the unprecedented cold weather we experienced this winter," said McKenzie.

The Omega Mission Hills World Cup will return to the international golfing calendar in 2011 as a biennial event - staged in every odd year - with a record prize fund of US$7,500,000 at a brand new venue in the Mission Hills Resort on Hainan Island in Southern China from November 24-27 next year; it was announced today by the International Federation of PGA Tours, the International Golf Association, Omega and Mission Hills.

The re-positioning of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup, which has been played at Mission Hills Shenzhen, China, between 2007 and 2009, as a biennial event follows last year's decision by the International Olympic Committee to re-introduce golf to the Olympic movement from 2016.

By playing the event in alternate years from 2011, the World Cup is aligned with many of the major sports in the Olympic movement, such as the World Athletics Championships, which are contested biennially and are not in any potential conflict with the summer and winter Olympic Games.

Thailand's Boonchu Ruangkit rewrote the European Senior Tour history books when he romped to a stunning 11 shot victory in the Chang Thailand Senior Masters presented by ISPS. The 53-year old was simply in a different class to the rest of the field at the picturesque Royal Gems Golf Club in Nakhonpathom, rounds of 64-66-65 giving the host nation favourite a whopping 21 under par winning total of 195.

Fellow countryman Jamnian Chitprasong, Frankie Minoza of the Philippines and Japan's Katsuyoshi Tomori shared a distant second place on ten under par 206 but, as with the rest of the field in the third European Senior Tour event of the 2010 season, they were all merely bit part players in the Boonchu master class.

Ruangkit - who won The Aberdeen Brunei Senior Masters seven days ago and is now 35 under par for his last six competitive tournament rounds - became the first player to win consecutive European Senior Tour events since England's Peter Mitchell won the Scottish Seniors Open and the Italian Seniors Open in October 2008.

In addition to that, he also carded the lowest 54 hole score to par in European Senior Tour history - beating the 18 under par 198 posted by David Good in the 2003 Tunisian Seniors Open and Bob Lendzion in the 2005 Jolie Ville Sharm El Sheikh Open - and also claimed the biggest 54 hole winning margin in Tour history, topping the nine shot victory Tommy Horton achieved in the El Bosque Open in 1998.

"I am extremely pleased with my performance today and very proud of what I have achieved here this week," said Ruangkit who moved to the top of the Senior Tour Order of Merit. "My putting was just right and my whole game just came together.

"Last night I wasn't certain that I could win it as Chiprasong and several other players were playing very well. But I went out and played the best I could and fortunately everything fell into place for me.

"To be honest, I didn't know that there was a chance to break some Senior Tour records but I am delighted that I have managed to get my name in the history books and extremely proud to have done it in my home country as well."

Leading by three shots overnight, Ruangkit laid down a marker to the rest of the field with a birdie four at the opening hole. Although six par figures followed to give the chasing pack a glimmer of hope, the Thai star ended the tournament as a contest around the turn with five birdies in a row from the eighth.

Another birdie followed at the 15th and although he dropped only his third shot of the entire tournament at the testing 440 yard 16th, Ruangkit made amends and ensured he finished in style with a closing birdie four at the 18th.

Of the three players in second place, Tomori - who won the 2006 Scandinavian Senior Open - produced the best round with a 69. Minoza challenge never truly ignited after a double bogey six at the second and he had to settle for a 71 while consecutive bogeys at the 11th and 12th and another at the 17th accounted for Chitprasong's 73.

Further down the final leaderboard, England's Kevin Spurgeon - the winner of the Senior Tour season opener in Mauritius and who Ruangkit replaced at the head of the Order of Merit - finished in a tie for 24th place on one under par 215 alongside the winner of the 2009 Order of Merit, Scotland's Sam Torrance.

Although satisfied with his own performance in the stifling heat, the former European Ryder Cup Captain paid tribute to the new champion. "Boonchu is amazing," he said."I know him very well and he has been a great player for a long time. He showed that once again this week."

Leading Final scores (216 par):
195 B Ruangkit (Tha) 64 66 65,
206 J Chitprasong (Tha) 66 67 73, F Minoza (Phi) 70 65 71, K Tomori (Jpn) 66 71 69,
208 A Sowa (Arg) 67 70 71, G Brand (Eng) 70 70 68, M Saengsui (Tha) 65 71 72, S Ebihara (Jpn) 68 70 70,
209 D Russell (Eng) 67 68 74,
210 C Williams (RSA) 72 69 69,