Kuala Lumpur, Dec 23 (IANS): Malaysia’s young golf talent Arie Irawan is thankful for the opportunity to play in the region’s premier Tour in 2015 after earning his card with a sixth-placed finish in the 2014 Asian Development Tour (ADT) Order of Merit.

The ADT rewarded the top five players on its merit rankings with playing rights on the Asian Tour this season.

It was, however, a special case for Arie because Thailand’s Sattaya Supupramai, who finished fourth in the ADT Order of Merit, managed to secure his card through finishing inside the top 60 in the Asian Tour rankings.

Arie, who earned $37,275, was the next best player on the ADT to be rewarded with an Asian Tour card for 2015.

Despite not having any wins on the ADT, Arie capped a relatively good season with nine top 10 finishes on the burgeoning Tour which offered a record 21 events in 2014.

The 24-year-old Malaysian also claimed a tied-ninth finish at the Asian Tour’s Resorts World Manila Masters in November.

Arie, who just claimed his first professional victory on his domestic Tour last week, is now determined to excel on the Asian Tour when he heads into the brand new 2015 season.

"It has been a great year, I can't ask for a better way to end the year. I finally won my first professional event last week at the PGM Maybank Players Championship and to earn my Asian Tour card now is a great feeling," said Arie.

"This is only the beginning of my career and I have to put in a lot more hard work to compete on the Asian Tour. Playing on the ADT has helped me gain a lot of confidence in my game. I’m glad I managed to transfer what I have done on the ADT to the main Tour with a good finish in Manila," added Arie, who joined the play-for-pay ranks in 2013.